The Denver Nuggets have closed their practice facility after round of positive tests for the coronavirus, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The facility has been closed since Saturday. The Nuggets had two members of the team’s 35-person Orlando traveling party test positive for COVID-19 before the organization closed the facility. Wojnarowski also reports at least one more person from the Nuggets tested positive since Saturday. It has also been reporter Nikola Jokic, the team’s All-Star center tested positive for the virus in Serbia, where he is asymptomatic.
Denver is one of the 22 teams who will take part in the NBA restart in Orlando starting at the end of this month. The team will reopen the facility based on ongoing testing. The team will work out as much as they can before heading to Orlando next week. Jokic is currently in Serbia, but the team is working on getting him back before they head to Orlando.
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“The hope and expectation is that Nikola Jokic will be with us on that plane as we head down to Orlando,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said to reporters on Wednesday via the Denver Post. “From everything I’ve heard and talked to him, he feels great, he feels fine and is excited to get back.” The NBA is set to return after suspending the season in March after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently appeared on TIME 100 Talks and said the growing cases of COVID-19 across the country could prevent the league from starting up again.
“Never full steam ahead no matter what,” Silver told TIME via ESPN. “One thing we are learning about this virus is much [is] unpredictable, and we and our players together with their union look at the data on a daily basis. If there were something to change that was outside of the scope of what we are playing for, certainly we would revisit our plans.”
The Nuggets are the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference behind the Los Angeles Lakers and L.A. Clippers. The news of the Nuggets closing their facilities comes on the heels of Brooklyn Nets player DeAndre Jordan testing positive for the coronavirus, which led him to decide not to travel to Orlando for the restart.
