The Los Angeles Lakers were hit with a serious reality check when the team was forced to test for the coronavirus following four players on the Brooklyn Nets testing positive.
The results came back for the Lakers within a couple days and two undisclosed players on the team sadly tested positive.
While they did not reveal who the two were, it is confirmed that Quinn Cook and JaVale McGee were not the two positive tests.
As for Cook, he recounted his experience getting tested as well as praising the team’s doctors on “The Posted Up” podcast with Chris Haynes:
“It’s the worst eight, nine seconds of your life. It’s something that I wouldn’t wish on anybody, but something that had to be done. And our doctor did a really great job of keeping everybody away from each other…. well the Lakers did a good job of keeping everybody away from each other.”
In addition, Cook said that the feelings about the test were mutual throughout the entire team as their group chat all shared the same sentiment:
“Our doctor really went one by one and gave everybody a test. Everybody had the same reaction… it was funny. We’re all going off in the group chat about how painful and uncomfortable it was, but it was something that needed to be done.”
Now, the two Lakers who tested positive — as well as everyone else on the team — have already started a 14-day quarantine to help slow the spread of the virus. Beyond just having the coronavirus, it’s particularly tough for the two players being forced to isolate themselves instead of being with their family during the NBA’s hiatus.
However, these are the steps that must be taken to ‘flatten the curve’ of coronavirus and a large part of why the NBA suspended its 2019-20 season in the first place.
Hopefully, this hiatus will come to an end and play will resume as normal but for now, precautionary steps have to be taken for the health of everyone.
