by Quintin Blake
Since the NBA bubble in 2020, the league has been taken over by the coronavirus. During the 2021-2022 season, players, teams, and games have been affected by the virus. Players like Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors), Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder) are only some of the current players who have recently been released from the health and safety protocols due to the new Omicron variant. There have been at least two games a week this season delayed due to COVID. The current NBA season has an unknown future for teams' records and the players’ health.
Teams in the NBA are losing important players on a regular basis because of the virus. As a result, players have to deal with the effects and differences coming back to the team and the NBA. For example, a star player on the Boston Celtics, Jayson Tatum, whose team depends on him for wins, has dealt with breathing problems in games because of a prior infection. Tatum, this season, is playing 36.7 minutes on average per game and is still having issues since he was in health and safety protocols on January 2, 2022. In Tatum’s absence the team has dropped to 10th in the eastern conference with a record of 18-19. The past four games without Tatum have been an even split 2-2. The Celtics had to depend on the team’s secondary star Jaylen Brown in order to get the two wins. The coronavirus has impacted players’ personal health, whether mental, breathing, conditioning, or any other issue that may be hidden.
In addition to the status of the players, the teams are also being affected because of the loss of key players. The Gold State Warriors on December 28th played the Denver Nuggets while Draymond Green was out due to COVID. His impact on the team is a leading factor in their success this year, but without him they lost to the Denver Nuggets 89-86. More recently, the Indiana Pacers are without a doubt struggling this year, but no one expected their team of talented stars to be 13th in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers have lost their last three games because two of their best players were out due to the virus. Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert were both out these last three games, and as a result, they lost all three contests. Coronavirus is hurting teams records this year as more and more players are entered into health and safety protocols.
The NBA season has been through some major obstacles this season. However, there are ways to help prevent the NBA from another possible shut down due to the amount of cases rising especially within the NBA. Even though the NBA season is uncertain, the future of the league can only be determined by time. Due to COVID, the world is concerned about the safety of the league and its possibility to have a successful season. Even though the organizations and players are being affected, a turnaround in the safety of the players, and therefore the success of the season, is possible but not guaranteed.
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