Four Brooklyn Nets players who tested positive for coronavirus, including Kevin Durant, are officially symptom-free. The Nets announced March 17 – just days after the NBA suspended its season – that the players had tested positive.
Durant, as well as Utah’s Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell and Boston’s Marcus Smart, went public with their positive tests, urging citizens to listen to public health officials during the pandemic. Durant encouraged social distancing, asking fans to remain inside to avoid exposing anyone to the virus.
“I have to applaud Kevin for coming out [and doing that],” Ian Eagle said on After Hours with Amy Lawrence. “Everybody’s got to handle it in the way that they feel is appropriate, but I felt that KD coming out, changing the stigma, which is really a big part of this right now – nobody should feel badly that they’ve contracted this. If anything, it’s helpful in bringing home the point that we all have to be so careful when it does become a public issue.”
Many Americans did not take the coronavirus seriously. Unfortunately, the United States now has the most confirmed cases in the world.
“I thought at that moment, at that time, the fact that Kevin Durant came out and acknowledged it, it opened some more eyes around the country, just how real this is,” Eagle said.
Durant, who joined the Nets this past offseason, hasn’t played a game this season as he continues to recover from a torn Achilles sustained in the 2019 NBA Finals.