Infected NBA Player Feels 'Fear, Anxiety, Embarrassment'

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert is sorry about making light of the coronavirus outbreak days before he tested positive for the virus, triggering the suspension of the NBA season. At a press conference Monday, where the Jazz had asked reporters to sit 6 to 8 feet away from Gobert, the player jokingly touched all the microphones on the table in front of him, ABC7 reports. "I would like to publicly apologize to the people that I may have endangered," the player said in an Instagram post Thursday. "At the time, I had no idea I was even infected. I was careless and make no excuse." Gobert said he had been through many emotions since learning of his diagnosis, "mostly fear, anxiety, and embarrassment."

"I hope my story serves as a warning and causes everyone to take this seriously," Gobert said. "I will do whatever I can to support using my experience as way to educate others and prevent the spread of this virus." Salt Lake Tribune journalist Andy Larsen was at the press conference where Gobert touched the microphones. He says he was tested along with Jazz players and other journalists after Gobert's positive test result arrived Wednesday night. He says his test result came back negative but Jazz player Donovan Mitchell tested positive. Larsen, who will still self-quarantine for 14 days, says other Jazz players were allowed to return to Utah from Oklahoma City on Thursday afternoon, but Gobert and Mitchell were not on the plane. (More coronavirus stories.)