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Rudy Gobert went from coronavirus skeptic to a cautionary tale in a matter of days -- and he alone arguably spurred the entire sports world to shut down Thursday.
The Utah Jazz center's positive test for the disease Wednesday led to the NBA immediately suspending its season. The NHL and other sports followed suit Thursday, while the NCAA canceled its men's and women's tournaments. Meanwhile, Major League Baseball called off the remainder of its spring training schedule and is delaying opening day for at least two weeks.
Before being diagnosed, Gobert had made light of coronavirus fears by touching all the microphones and recording devices in front of him before leaving a press conference and reportedly had a cavalier attitude about the virus in the locker room. Then on Thursday, his teammate, Donovan Mitchell, tested positive for COVID-19.
Gregg Giannotti said on Friday's "Boomer and Gio" show, the Gobert diagnosis changed everything in American sports.
"All the contingency plans up until the Gobert sickness and the positive test was we're going to play without fans, we're looking into places that don't have as many cases -- that was what the NBA was looking into," he said. "And then it all changed by that test.
"Now I think eventually someone who got sick was going to set all of this in motion. And it happened to be Rudy Gobert, and it happened to be a couple of days ago. But I don't know if the NBA, the NHL, Major League Baseball, the NCAA tournament was thinking about completely shutting down until that moment when Rudy Gobert was sick and then on top of it a teammate gets sick. And then at that point, all bets were off."
Russell Isabella/USA TODAY Images "I have gone through so many emotions since learning of my diagnosis…mostly fear, anxiety, and embarrassment," the 27-year-old NBA star wrote on social media. "The first and most important thing is I would like to publicly apologize to the people that I may have endangered. At the time, I had no idea I was even infected. I was careless and make no excuse. I hope my story serves as a warning and causes everyone to take this seriously. I will do whatever I can to support using my experience as way to educate others and prevent the spread of this virus. I am under great care and will fully recover. Thank you again for all your support. I encourage everyone to take all of the steps to stay safe and healthy. Love."
Boomer Esiason, Giannotti's co-host, said he feels bad for Gobert.
"I was mad at him -- really, really mad at him," Esiason said. "And then after his apology came out, I was a little bit sensitive to the apology and said to myself, 'OK, can we just accept an apology once or twice please?' and move on from that. But maybe he was the impetus to all of this. And if that was the case and he was the impetus to all of this, then that's a good thing."
Giannotti agreed that people who had not yet taken the dangers of COVID-19 seriously can learn from Gobert.
"I also think that him acting like that and showing people that if you're going to be a jerk that you could end up putting yourself and others in danger is also a good message out there," he said. "Not that I wanted Rudy Gobert to get sick, but there's video of him acting carelessly and then the news after that he is sick and got a teammate sick, I mean that is a great public service announcement, isn't it?"