Nikola Jokic Tests Positive for Coronavirus Prior to Season Restart

Nikola

Nikola Jokic

Denver Nuggets’ star Nikola Jokic has tested positive for the Coronavirus while he is in his native country Serbia. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Serbian star has been asymptomatic and is expected to be cleared to travel to Denver within a week or so. 

The All-Star forward is expected to join the camp before the team leaves for the Walt Disney complex in Orlando for the restart of the season next month. 

The news of Jokic comes reportedly hours after his fellow countryman Novak Djokovic, world number one tennis star and his wife were tested positive of the deadly virus. 

Both Djokovic and Jokic were spotted at an event in Belgrade earlier this month where the latter took part in an exhibition basketball game. But it is not evident if that played any role in the positive test of either athlete. 

Nikola Jokic has been currently averaging 20.2 PPG, 10.2 Rebounds and 6.9 Assists per game. He is one of the top-scoring players in the league in 2019-20 season as only four other players: Karl-Anthony Towns, Joel Embiid, John Colling and Giannis Antetokounmpo are averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds together this season. 

If he is cleared to travel to Denver and Orlando, the league will have to maintain a high standard of protocols in social distancing and medical assurance since the league is set to resume the season from July 31 at the sports complex at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. 

A total of 22 teams will participate in the remainder of the season with 13 teams coming from the Western Conference while the rest 9 coming from the Eastern Conference. As soon as all the teams reach Florida, they will have to abide by all the guidelines issued by the NBA for the workout and training of the individual players in a controlled atmosphere, until all the players serve the self-isolation to get a permission for the group workouts.