Source/The Athletic
By David Aldridge
*The original text was published on April 9, 2020
At that time, the NBA had only four minutes.
An Oklahoma Department of Health official and sir The team made a phone call and clearly conveyed the message that the Jazz all-star center Rudy Goebbels had tested positive for coronavirus. The virus appears in different forms every year. At present, this kind of disease can cause serious respiratory diseases, and the scientific name of this disease is "COVID-19". "19" represents the year when the disease spread. The virus is highly infectious but has no vaccine. COVID-19 has killed thousands of people in China and quickly spread to Italy, where it will kill thousands of people.
But relatively speaking, the United States remained open on March 11.
At that time, only San Francisco and Ohio, two cities with NBA teams, issued rules prohibiting large gatherings. However, at the Chesapeake Energy Stadium in Oklahoma City, the game between Thunder and Jazz was only 4 minutes away. NCAA Great West Area and Central America Area have announced that they will play empty games. Only the Ivy League has really done so.
On that morning, Antony Fauci, director of the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, testified in Congress about the progress of the fight against coronavirus. Someone asked him whether the Ivy League overreacted or the NBA overreacted.
In his testimony, Fauci said, "We still recommend that there should be no large gatherings. If this means that there is no audience when the NBA plays games, it can only be so. But as a health official, (I must say) there is a risk of transmission in any place where a large number of people gather."
But the NBA was preparing to play all six games in front of the fans that night. NHL is going to play 5 games. MLB training camps have started in Florida and Arizona.
For most restaurants, bars and clubs across the country, this is just an ordinary Wednesday.
But in the Chesapeake Energy Stadium, everything went wrong.
Just as the home players finished their appearance ceremony, a Jazz official called the Thunder official. The two men have kept in touch for the past 24 hours because Gobel has developed symptoms of high fever. By this time, he had been diagnosed. Even though for precautionary reasons, Gobel was not in the Chesapeake Energy Stadium at that time, he still stayed in the city and was isolated in the hotel. And he has had close contact with a number of Jazz teammates, who are now ready to play.
There is no time.
Fortunately, a Thunder official was very close to Downey Straker, the vice president of Thunder's Human Resources and Player Performance Department, and he aroused Straker's attention.
Call the referee here. He told Straker. Tell them not to kick off.
When Straker ran on the court, Rob Hennigen, the vice president of Thunder Observation and Vision Department, asked the players and coaches to gather together. Later, he went to the midfield to find Straker and the referee on duty - the referee Pat Farah, Mark Lindsey and Ben Taylor. They quickly called in the coaches of the two teams, Quinn Snyder and Billy Donovan. Then they immediately contacted the NBA's digital operations center. This center is responsible for monitoring all competitions. Generally, the most common task is to determine whether real-time playback should be performed. But this night they faced a completely different problem.
At that time, the mayor of Russia, David Holt, was resting at home, ready to watch the live broadcast of the game on TV. Hort often came to the scene to watch Thunder games, but he didn't come this time. "I wanted to enjoy a quiet and comfortable night," he said.
Just when Straker, Hennigan, Snyder, Donovan and the referees were discussing in the middle of the game, NBA president Adam Xiaohua was driving home in New York. He had a few hours' meeting with the team owners to discuss further plans to deal with coronavirus in the next few days.
In the past few weeks, the league has been informing all teams to prepare for the epidemic. NBA employees working in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong have seen the consequences of the outbreak first. Sources said that NBA China has no employees infected.
Since the spread of the epidemic in late January, the league has continuously issued memoranda requiring teams to coordinate and cooperate with local health institutions.
The Jazz has been planning rehearsals for this situation for several weeks. Mike Elliott, vice president of the team's performance and health department, has discussed with Snyder the plan to deal with the player's diagnosis. In particular, what to do if there is an infection case on the road. For example, infected persons can be taken care of by team doctors or state government officials. Also, on the road, because of traffic and isolation, the problem will multiply, because senior team officials cannot travel together.
This is what Gobel diagnosed. The senior management personnel of the two teams were scattered all over the country and participated in various competitions that were going on at that time. The Jazz has just completed four consecutive rounds in the east, playing against the Cavaliers, Knicks, Celtics and Pistons.
"These meetings have been going on to discuss the best response," said one insider.
Their preparations played a role in the city.
On the afternoon of the 11th, Xiao Hua spent most of his time in a teleconference with the Board of Directors.
On that day, the Warriors had posted a notice outside the Chase Center of the home stadium, reminding fans that "entering the stadium to watch the game will increase the risk of coronavirus infection," and announcing that the next day's game (March 12) might be held empty. This was in line with the San Francisco Department of Health's order to ban more than 1000 people from gathering.
The board of directors must decide whether the open field competition will become normal.
"In the conference call, we discussed more about whether we should play an empty game." A boss said, "What should we do, and how will the outside world evaluate it? Finally, the next night, we discussed how long we had to wait to make a decision about an empty game."
Although several bosses have proposed the possibility of suspension, most people's idea at that time was to continue to play empty games, just as the Warriors planned.
The bosses also know that once a player is diagnosed, the league will have to be suspended. It is impossible for your team to continue playing when other team players are infected. They also discussed whether it is necessary for the NBA to suspend if a player who is not on the list or a player from the Development League is confirmed.
Of course, no one has any illusions that the NBA will be a lucky exception.
"We discussed all the options," said another boss. "My guess at the time was that maybe it would disappear after a few more fights."
* * * *
The two teams in Russia have returned to the locker room to wait. Thunder officials, including team owner Cray Bennett, all talked to Xiao Hua together. The joint decision of the two teams is to postpone the start time first. Someone asked the midfield show to go on now. The fans were not informed.
"If we started the first game during the liaison between the league and government officials," said a person who participated in the game on the day, "there would be five Thunder players in contact with Donovan Mitchell." The latter was also tested positive, but everyone did not know at that time.
During the call with Xiao Hua, Thunder officials and representatives of the Oklahoma Department of Health explained to him what happened at the scene and how the situation was.
"Xiao Hua means the game must be canceled," said the insider.
But it's just the beginning. The stadium needs to evacuate people and try to avoid creating panic.
Thunder's live announcer Mario Nani did his best: "Due to an accident, tonight's game was postponed. We are all safe. Please leave the stadium slowly and keep order. Thank you for coming tonight. We are all safe. You can visit OKC.com to update the status of future games. Pay attention to driving safety. Good night, fans."
After Xiao Hua finished talking with Thunder and the officials of Oklahoma City, he immediately arranged a call with the presidents of all teams, and many bosses joined in. The call didn't last long. According to insiders, only two teams on the phone said they wanted to continue playing. Most people know what will happen next. There have been media reports that Gobel has been diagnosed.
Soon, Vice President Mark Tatum, General Counsel Rick Buchanan and other NBA lawyers started talking with the team again, telling them that the league decided to suspend the game indefinitely after the game ended that night. There was only one game left: Kings vs. Pelicans at home.
There was something wrong with the game.
While the Pelican was warming up, the players heard about the cancellation of the Thunder game. They also learned that the referee on duty, Courtney Kirkland, had just called off the Jazz game in Salt Lake City two days ago.
Of course, no one will blame Kirkland, but the Pelican players do not want to play with the referees who have had close contact with Jazz players.
"I don't think it is necessary for the team to continue warming up until I get the exact information about whether the game can continue," said a member of the Pelican management. "This is not a necessary protest."
This soon became a controversial point. The league has decided to cancel the game between Thunder and Jazz, and they know that there is still a game to play and Kirkland wants to blow the game. He could have rested. Even if there were only two referees in the game, there was no precedent. It was not until 1988 that three referees were on duty.
But Kirkland also had contact with two other referees at that time (his test result was negative later).
Twelve minutes before kick-off, Pelican Executive Vice President David Griffin walked into the locker room and told everyone that the league had also decided to postpone the game.
At the same time in Russia, the Jazz team is still isolated in the locker room.
The Thunder players stayed in the home team's locker room for about an hour, and then the Ministry of Health officials allowed them to leave. At first, they thought they would be tested, but then they were told that the test would be carried out the next day and the Jazz players would be tested first. Later, they were told that if there were no symptoms, they could not be measured.
In the end, the Thunder players left the stadium. The next day, the whole team was tested by the Oklahoma City Department of Health, and the results were all negative.
The Jazz waited even longer.
On Wednesday morning, Sir called the Ministry of Health. At that time, Gobel had already developed symptoms. The Ministry of Health informed the Thunder Medical Group of this news. After discussing with other team doctors, their team doctor determined that Gobel was the symptom of COVID-19. The Ministry of Health agreed with this result, so Gobel carried out the test on Wednesday morning.
The test result is positive, and the Ministry of Health is still monitoring the stadium. Jazz players waited for hours in the locker room before finally waiting to test.
Ingalls later said on the podcast: "When we were trapped in the locker room, people from the Ministry of Health walked in, and we felt like monsters in the film Man in Black. That experience was really eye opening. I have never seen people wearing that kind of equipment. And the detection process was too painful."
Meanwhile, Holt has put on his work clothes and returned to the Municipal Health Department.
"The health department responsible for (the stadium) that night was not us, but the state," he said. "We just wanted to study what to do with the hotel where Sir stayed... Many people went to the lobby and asked Gobel if he stayed here."
"The NBA people and Sam Priesty have called me, and they are also studying many questions, such as where to stay if the Jazz can't leave the local area. They need about 50 rooms, and have checked out from the previous hotel... The city government also has to find hotels for other COVID-19 patients to stay in."
It took them quite a while.
"The governor (Kevin Stitt) called me because he was contacted by the governor of Utah." Hort said, "Jim Inhofe's office (Senator of Oklahoma) also called; and Mitt Romney's office (Senator of Utah)."
In the end, Holt and the city government officials found 47 entourage of the Jazz in the two hotels. The next morning, they left the local area by the team charter plane, and the team reporters followed. These journalists also stayed in the stadium for several hours that night and were tested together.
Gobel stayed in the original hotel for the night, and Moodier, who had been ill but had not gone to war, joined him. Mudier is not infected with the virus. Gobel later took a private charter flight back to Salt Lake City.
The suspension of the NBA became a turning point, and then almost all professional and university sports leagues around the world postponed their matches and closed their venues, from Indiana 500 to Wimbledon, from the Tokyo Olympics to the Premier League, from NCAA to the Vietnam International Badminton Challenge.
In the foreseeable future, all sports will be closed.
Whether the NBA should be praised for its quick response or blamed for its delay in suspension is a matter of different opinions. This cannot be decided by one person or one sentence.
However, it is still an unparalleled feat for the NBA to turn an enterprise worth billions of dollars and with seemingly endless personnel layers from full operation to complete stop in just a few minutes.
Adam Xiao Hua made a decision, but in the process, many people were at the helm and stepped on the brake at the same time.
