The Denver Nuggets’ practice facility is currently closed. Its doors are locked.
The 22 teams heading to Disney World next week for the NBA’s restart were set to begin mandatory player workouts on Wednesday at team facilities, but after the Nuggets returned positive coronavirus tests over the weekend, Pepsi Center’s practice court won’t be opening on schedule. For the past several weeks, workouts have been taking place at team practice facilities but on a voluntary basis. Many Nuggets players have participated in those workouts.
The Nuggets had two members of their 35-person traveling party test positive for coronavirus which led to the closing of their practice facility on Saturday, league sources confirmed to DNVR, and the team returned at least one more positive test since then, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. All three are asymptomatic, according to league sources. Currently, players and team staffers around the league are getting tested every other day at team facilities.
The Nuggets’ practice facility will be closed for “at least” a few days, league sources said, and Denver could still reopen its facility before departing for the Disney World bubble on Tuesday but that depends on how testing goes over the next couple of days.
On Friday, the NBA said 16 players tested positive for the coronavirus in the first wave of mandatory tests done in preparation for the restart of the season. Those 16 players were part of a pool of 302 players who were tested. The Nuggets’ two positive tests that prompted the closing of their practice facility on Saturday were not a part of the 16 that the league reported, per league sources.
Prior to these latest positive tests, Michael Malone revealed earlier this month that he underwent an antibody test around Memorial Day weekend which showed he previously had coronavirus. Malone said that he began to feel ill shortly after the Nuggets returned from their March 11 game in Dallas against the Mavericks, the final game prior to the NBA suspending the season. An additional member of the organization tested positive on March 19.
Nuggets All-NBA center Nikola Jokic also tested positive for coronavirus over a week ago while in Serbia where Jokic flew to attend an exhibition game that honored his former coach Dejan Milojevic. At least two people who attended the exhibition game — KK Partizan player Nikola Jankovic as well as Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic — later tested positive for the virus as well.
In total, at least six members of the Nuggets’ organization have tested positive since the league shut down. The Nuggets and their 35-person travel party are scheduled to fly to Orlando next Tuesday.
