Biyombo on NBA decision: ‘If one guy has it, God knows how fast that can spread.’

Once one NBA player tested positive, the league had no choice but do what it announced Wednesday night: Shut down the season indefinitely.

Charlotte Hornets center and players union vice president Bismack Biyombo said the news — that Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for the coronoavirus — made this suspension of the season unavoidable.

“We’re around each other so much; if one guy has it, God knows how fast that can spread around,” Biyombo said after the Hornets’ 109-98 victory over the Miami Heat. “We play with the same ball, we sweat and we touch each other.”

The NBA sent out a press release around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night, stating the league was suspending the season indefinitely at the conclusion of Wednesday’s games. The league said a player from the Jazz had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, without revealing that player’s identity. Numerous media reports identified All-Star Gobert as that player.

Biyombo confirmed as much, saying teammate Nic Batum was in touch with Gobert, a fellow Frenchman and Batum’s protege.

The NBA abruptly postponed the Jazz’s game in Oklahoma City against the Thunder when game officials were informed of Gobert’s illness. The Jazz (without specifically identifying Gobert) confirmed in a press release the positive preliminary test and said the player was under medical care in Oklahoma City.

This was just the eventuality the NBA feared when it instituted rules Wednesday limiting locker room access and keeping media and fans at least six feet from players during interactions: That a player would contract Coronavirus and become a threat to spread the pandemic through one or more NBA locker rooms.

Biyombo, a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has experience with the dangers of infectious diseases. His charitable foundation provides mobile medical equipment in Africa, and he studied the Ebola epidemic there.

He saw how disease can spread far faster than non-medical personnel can imagine. He recalled an African official saying he wasn’t concerned about Ebola because it appeared to be contained in Liberia.

“I think a week and a half later, Ebola was in his country,” Biyombo said.

Hornets coach James Borrego called the news the league was shutting down “surreal.” He said following the game he hadn’t yet talked with Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak about what is next.

Will players stay in Charlotte, with no indication whether any of the Hornets’ remaining 17 games will be played?

“The first thing is to stay calm and gather some more information,” said Borrego, whose team is 23-42, seven games out of a playoff spot. “The next 24 hours, we’ll figure out with the guys. Let’s get home tonight, let’s be safe tonight. Then, figure things out over the next few days.”

The Associated Press quoted an informed source as saying the NBA would miss, at minimum, the next two weeks.

Hornets guard Terry Rozier missed Wednesday’s game with an illness, but the team described it as a cold, and that Rozier had no fever. The Hornets are all in good health, but some have family concerns if they were to contract a serious illness and potentially be contagious. For instance, center Cody Zeller’s father has had heart issues that would put him in the at-risk group.

“For someone like me — healthy — I could beat it,” Zeller said before Wednesday’s game of the Coronavirus risk. “But my dad, he’s had a replacement heart valve. He’s on blood-thinners.”

As soon as the game ended, word spread through the Hornets’ locker room of the NBA’s decision. Biyombo got on a text group of union leadership.

“I didn’t want to believe it,” Biyombo said.

“Right now, it’s more focusing on the safety of everybody. Obviously we love the game of basketball — we play it for the fans — but at this point we have to protect the fans and the players. I think we all understand at this point how serious this is.”