The phrase “out of an abundance of caution” has entered sports lingo ever since leagues elected to resume playing through the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the NBA prides itself on its “wokeness,” maintaining that player safety trumps all with regard to its business, the pursuit of the almighty dollar has unfortunately too often gotten in the way. How else would you explain the league’s decision to host a meaningless All-Star Game over what was supposed to be a sorely needed weeklong break in March, and doing so in Atlanta, a city where the coronavirus is running rampant?
Call it a “smidgeon of caution.”
The NBA’s Keystone Kops routine at Barclays Center on Friday night during Brooklyn’s contest with the Raptors also shed a poor light on the league’s so-called protocols. If you missed it – and how could you have – Nets superstar Kevin Durant was held out of the starting lineup after taking his pregame layup drills due to an inconclusive test of a close contact. Durant then suddenly appeared on the Nets’ bench late in the first quarter, and was allowed to play 19 minutes before he was sent back to the locker room for good in the third, where all he could do was tweet his frustration as the Nets fell 123-117.
The NBA issued a statement after the game, saying that players are not quarantined until a close contact has a confirmed positive test, even though Durant was prohibited from starting without any such results. When the person Durant interacted with later returned a positive test, ONLY Durant was removed from the competition.
The dizzying turns of events were baffling. Brooklyn, which had won five of its last six games coming in, overcame the expected slow start to take a one-point lead three minutes into the third quarter after Steve Nash challenged a fifth foul call on Durant. In the same break in the action, Nash won the challenge but also lost his most indispensable star.
While Nash attempted to maintain a politically correct stance after the game, the players were perturbed. James Harden, Joe Harris, and Jeff Green each spoke what everyone was thinking: Why was the game played in the first place? If KD was a risk, wouldn’t all the other performers be at risk as well, including the Raptors who got in Durant’s grill on defense? An abundance of caution should have meant calling the game.
“I would have said, ‘Hey, if (Durant) is sitting for contract tracing, he’s with all of us on the court,’” Harris said. “It makes no sense.”
Well, Joe, it makes no sense, but plenty of dollars and cents. Friday’s game was nationally televised on ESPN, and the Nets, with their Big Three of Durant, Harden, and Kyrie Irving, are now must-see TV. That’s also why NBA commissioner Adam Silver is so intent on having All-Star Game festivities despite the contradictions.
In reality, this is all a guess. Durant, in fact, tested negative three times (including two of the more accurate PCR tests) in the 24 hours prior to Friday’s game, according to the NBA’s statement. He was infected back in March and reportedly was found to still have the COVID-19 antibodies in his system when he was quarantined for a week in January for a different close contact. Studies have yet to show whether those antibodies render full immunity from subsequent infections or, maybe more importantly, whether those infections can be transmitted to others.
We do know, however, that community spread can occur between teams competing in arenas—the NHL’s Devils, with 17 members currently sitting on their COVID-19 protocol list, played a back-to-back in Buffalo last weekend. Not too long afterwards, four Sabres players and their head coach came down with the virus. With or without proof, the Sabres are blaming the Devils and the NHL.
The leagues are trying to have it both ways, but they can’t simply get their games in and simultaneously prioritize player safety. The NBA and NHL solved the biggest issues relating to COVID-19 spread last season by finishing the competitions in bubbles. Going back to the normal home/road scheduling this season has put an extraordinary strain on every stakeholder, especially the players, who are supposedly required to refrain from putting themselves in situations that can lead to negative consequences but too often don’t, wittingly or unwittingly.
Nash said he didn’t know what those consequences for KD will be this time, but he sure sounded worried that it will require a similar one-week absence. The Nets traveled to Philadelphia for Saturday’s matchup without him.
Odds are that game will be played – to secure an abundance of cash.
For a FAN’s perspective of the Nets, Devils and Jets, follow Steve on Twitter @SteveLichtenst1.
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