In a gym packed with spectators without masks, Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield lit him up at a basketball game last month. And then he had to sit at the start of the Kings’ training camp in Orlando, Florida, while recovering from the coronavirus.
Hield is one of four Kings players who tested positive, along with Jabari Parker, Alex Len and Harrison Barnes, who announced their test results on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters in a video conference after his first practice with the Kings after clearing the quarantine, Hield was asked if he regretted how he handled the NBA parenthesis.
“I wouldn’t do anything different,” Hield said Tuesday. “I don’t think he did it by playing basketball because a lot of the guys he was playing with, none of them understood.”
The University of Oklahoma student lost 45 points in the Skinz League in Edmond, Oklahoma, in June, a league that also had the star of the Atlanta Hawks, and his sooner teammate, Trae Young, went on to play while the NBA was closed, drawing attention. the league for what was seen as a blatant decision.
Hield tested positive for COVID-19 weeks later and had to travel to Orlando separate from his team while completing a league-mandated recovery protocol. The fourth-year guard admitted that he should have paid more attention to his surroundings, been careful to wash his hands, refrain from touching his face and wearing a mask, but also said that the virus only caused him a “cold” and “chills a night”.
His biggest concern, he said, was for his friends, family and loved ones who were around him after he caught him.
“The Covid reacts to everyone differently,” he said.
Barnes announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 in a tweet on Tuesday, saying “he’s mostly asymptomatic and I’m fine.”
“I am quarantined and abide by the security protocol until authorized for action,” the tweet continued. “I look forward to joining my team in Orlando when it is safe to do so! Stay safe out there.”
pic.twitter.com/4TXEL0kcCV
– Harrison Barnes (@hbarnes) July 14, 2020
Kings coach Luke Walton revealed last week that a fourth member of Sacramento’s 36-person tour group did not initially join the team in Orlando, but did not identify Barnes. Barnes, like Len, is currently in Sacramento, a league source told ESPN. Parker joined the team along with Hield on Tuesday.
“We have to prepare as if we are not going to have any of those guys,” Walton said Tuesday. “And that is just preparing for what would be the worst case scenario. And there is a reality that could be that. So our mentality is that we prepare that we are not going to have them with us and we hope that they will meet us.” “
According to NBA guidelines, two weeks after a player tests positive, he undergoes a cardiac exam. At the time of the cardiac examination, a team has seven days to determine whether the player will join the team or choose to sign a replacement player in his place.
It has been an awkward start for life in the Kings bubble. Over the weekend, the Richaun Holmes center inadvertently breached the perimeter of the NBA campus to pick up a food delivery. The infraction, which Walton said was discovered by a league official and reported to the team, forced Holmes to have to restart his quarantine for an additional 10 days before he can practice again.
While Walton said Holmes’ mistake was “learned the hard way,” he said the sprawling NBA campus at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is not as intuitive as might be expected.
“It’s a little tough in the bubble. Borders are a little bit everywhere,” Walton said. “I almost went out the first day I was here [accidentally]”
Hield, somewhat ironically, said he wasn’t sure if the bubble could contain it. “I’ve been trying to find ways to get out,” said Hield with a smile. “I want to do something like dig a tunnel under the hotel so I can get my butt out of here.”
Holmes, who was given exercise equipment in his room while the reinstated quarantine was completed for the following week, took a different tone. “I apologize for my actions and look forward to meeting my teammates for our playoff campaign,” he tweeted Monday.
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