The Phoenix Suns ended their conference semifinals series against the Dallas Mavericks — and their 2021-22 season — suffering from a COVID-19 outbreak, reported The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Joe Vardon.
Six members of the team, including a player, tested positive for the virus at the tail end of the series or just after it ended. The team did not gather for in-person exit interviews as a result of the outbreak, according to the report.
The news might help explain, in part, how Phoenix went from beating Dallas by 30 points in Game 5 before losing by 27 and then 33 points in Games 6 and 7, respectively.
More than that, it raises questions about the NBA’s current COVID-19 regulations.
“I think it’s very clear that nobody wanted to report stuff,” said one source with knowledge of the Suns’ positive tests who was not authorized to speak publicly about them. “And this is where it gets dicey.”
A league spokesman told The Athletic, “The NBA has seen no evidence to suggest any rules violations by Suns players or staff.” A league source added the NBA could always revisit the situation if new information emerged.
Teams are required to test if vaccinated employees are symptomatic, which includes grey area if a player or staffer does not report symptoms.
The Suns did not comment on the report to The Athletic before it published the story.
Amick and Vardon further report that the Mavericks were aware of the rumblings of an outbreak with the Suns and concerned for their own health as early as Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals that they won in Game 7, which was May 15.
The Athletic’s policy is not to name players who test positive for COVID-19 unless they are named by the team. The other five members of the team who tested positive were “support staffers,” according to the report.