Podcast: Positive tests, rising case counts and the NBA’s Central Florida restart plans
A Miami Heat player has tested positive for COVID-19. Derrick Jones Jr. has the coronavirus as NBA teams across the country gear up to flock to Central Florida to wrap up the regular season and hopefully crown a champion.
Jones is far from the only NBA player to test positive recently, though, after mandatory COVID-19 testing for players and staff that began Tuesday. But, for now, it isn’t hindering the league’s plan to return to action next month at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
In this week’s episode of the Heat Check podcast, David Wilson and Anthony Chiang, the Heat beat writer for the Miami Herald, discuss Jones’ positive test and what it means for him and the Heat moving forward. Wilson and Chiang also share their confidence levels that the 2019-20 NBA season will actually restart with COVID-19 cases currently surging in Florida.
The episode closes with a flashback moment — a conversation about LeBron James’ “The Decision” announcement show.
The behind-the-scenes developments that led to “The Decision,” the fallout from the show and its legacy are all examined in a new episode of “Backstory,” an ESPN documentary series featuring the investigative reporting of three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and former Miami Herald reporter Don Van Natta Jr. “Backstory: The Decision” premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. on ESPN, ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the July 8, 2010, airing of James’ free agent decision to take his talents to South Beach.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 12:41 PM.
