The NBA makes the right move
Doing the right thing in the face of COVID-19, thanks to a man named Donnie Strack
BY HENRY ABBOTT
Even though virtually every expert in communicable diseases recommends it, the federal government hasn’t mandated social distancing—which would surely include canceling sporting events. So that decision was passed down to cities and leagues. The city of San Francisco took action, but the NBA’s board of governors hadn’t, as of Wednesday evening. So that decision was passed down again—to a man named Donnie Strack.
Strack grew up in Indianapolis, a ballboy for the Pacers. He bonded easily with players—so easily that Reggie Miller slipped into the back row of Strack’s high-school games, and, according to Indianapolis Monthly, Shaquille O’Neal challenged him to free-throw shooting contests.
By Wednesday night, though, years had passed. Strack had aged and advanced to the point that he is now the Thunder’s vice president of human and player performance. And, according to ESPN’s Royce Young, Strack sprinted onto the court, just as the referees were about to toss the ball in the air to start the game. So many others had deferred. Strack would be the one to protect the players.
Shortly after the game, we’d learn what Strack presumably knew then: A Jazz player had tested positive for COVID-19. Multiple reports declared that player to be Jazz center Rudy Gobert. The players were sent to their locker rooms, some pausing only for some hand sanitizer. Before long the scoreboard had news: The game would be postponed.
At 9:33 p.m. ET the NBA emailed that, after tonight’s games, the season would be suspended. As I write this, sources say players at the game in Oklahoma City are being tested.
They should build a statue of Donnie Strack. In a scary moment of history, when nobody knows how many people in any stadium might have COVID-19, Strack made the bold intervention. Who knows how many infections he prevented on the court and in the stands.
In some rough math, more than four million fans would have attended the regular season games the NBA just canceled. Michael Grange of Canada’s Sportsnet wrote earlier in the day:
Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at Sinai Health and University Health Network and University of Toronto is a Raptors fan, but the prospect of attending a game at the moment makes him shudder, professionally and personally. He paints a scenario where it would only take a small number of unknowingly infected fans to spread the virus to hundreds more as they share handrails, sit at close quarters and use the same ketchup dispensers. If even a fraction of them end up gravely ill the ripple effects could be calamitous: “Now you need an entire hospital’s full ICU [Intensive Care Unit] to take care of these patients,” he said. “Repeat for several games each night, night after night. Have I scared you? Good. That’s what’s happening.”
Even with only one confirmed case, it’s easy to see the benefits of suspending play. In the most conservative possible accounting, (that doesn’t even assess coaches, trainers, staff, fans, and journalists whose microphones Gobert intentionally touched mocking COVID-19 fears), Gobert has shared the court with 80 players and officials just in the last ten days. The list below is only of the players who checked into games Gobert played.
Without Dr. Strack, this list would be a lot longer. (All information from Basketball-Reference).
The Jazz
Joe Ingles
Royce O'Neale
Donovan Mitchell
Bojan Bogdanovic
Georges Niang
Tony Bradley
Emmanuel Mudiay
Mike Conley
Jordan Clarkson
Ed Davis
Juwan Morgan
Rayjon Tucker
Nigel Williams-Goss
Miye Oni
Jarrell Brantley
Justin Wright-Foreman
Kevin Porter Jr.
Cedi Osman
Collin Sexton
Larry Nance Jr.
Kevin Love
Matthew Dellavedova
Ante Zizic
Matt Mooney
Officials: Mitchell Ervin, Eric Lewis, Derek Richardson
Julius Randle
RJ Barrett
Elfrid Payton
Maurice Harkless
Taj Gibson
Bobby Portis
Wayne Ellington
Reggie Bullock
Kevin Knox II
Frank Ntilikina
Officials: Jenna Schroeder, Aaron Smith, Sean Wright
Marcus Smart
Semi Ojeleye
Jayson Tatum
Daniel Theis
Kemba Walker
Brad Wanamaker
Grant Williams
Robert Williams III
Javonte Green
Romeo Langford
Enes Kanter
Officials: Marat Kogut, Ken Mauer, Gediminas Petraitis
Christian Wood
Tony Snell
Brandon Knight
Svi Mykhailiuk
John Henson
Langston Galloway
Jordan McRae
Bruce Brown
Sekou Doumbouya
Thon Maker
Donta Hall
Officials: Brandon Adair, John Goble, Michael Smith
Kyle Lowry
Pascal Siakam
Serge Ibaka
OG Anunoby
Norman Powell
Patrick McCaw
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
Matt Thomas
Terence Davis
Chris Boucher
Officials: Brent Barnaky, Courtney Kirkland, Rodney Mott
Thank you for reading TrueHoop! A few days ago we explored how the NBA makes these kinds of decisions.
A life-saving play.
It's not just the NBA and individual teams being forced to make these difficult decisions. Businesses big and small, with far less resources than the NBA and 30 billionaires, are having to close their doors and lay off their employees. I'm glad the NBA made this choice, but I'm finding it hard to care much right now.