WITHOUT a single basket being scored, it looks like the elimination process has already started in the NBA.
Courtesy, of course, of the coronavirus.
To date, there are a total of 25 players who tested positive and not all their identities have been disclosed, but the biggest names include Russel Westbrook, Harrison Barnes, Buddy Hield and just the other day, Eric Bledsoe.
Yes, they can potentially rejoin their respective teams at the NBA bubble at some point later on, but that’s a big if and they have to clear several testing protocols.
If you consider what happened to Utah Jazz Center Rudy Gobert who took a few months before he could regain his sense of smell, you get the idea that it may not be as seamless a comeback for these Covid-19 stricken players.
Westbrook apparently had mild symptoms, but unless you have been hiding under a rock all these months, you will have known that a lot is still unknown about this virus and the science is still out.
Yes, majority get well and are back to normal after about a week or so, but there are those who take more than a month to fully recover, if at all.
There were studies that came out showing lung tissue damage for those who have supposedly “recovered” from the virus, without them knowing it.
For some, this is not just your regular flu where you take your medicine, gulp down some chicken soup, get some bed rest and voila—you are up and about in a couple of days.
Consider that these are NBA players—clearly among some of the best-conditioned athletes in the world, and they are highly paid for their talents and prodigious capacities.
Ergo, they have to be at 100 percent in order to be at their best and any slight dip in their vigorous constitutions will translate into sub-par performances. This has consequences on the court, people, and this is no small matter.
For example, a guy like Westbrook who is the Energizer bunny personified and who doesn’t know how to play any other way, has to be fully healthy and recuperated to be able to do the things he does on the court.
Anything less will be a letdown to his team.
JR SMITH. Speaking of elimination, another player who has the curious potential to eliminate himself from the NBA bubble not because of the coronavirus but because of his deportment is the newly requisitioned J.R. Smith.
Just a few hours after he arrived at the designated hotel for his team, the Los Angeles Lakers, Smith was already on Instagram exposing some of the amenities when he got a text from the NBA asking him to take down the video.
He is quite the character and it remains to be seen what misadventures he might get himself into especially considering that there is an anonymous hotline being run by the NBA for any protocol violations made by players.
LAST ROUND. It’s on Mommy Nimfa G. Tero, who recently celebrated her birthday. Cheers!