Stay home. Stay safe.
By Aaron Falk
Stay home. Stay safe.
That’s the message from our government leaders and your favorite Utah Jazz players right now.
Last week, all Jazz players and staff—including Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, who tested positive for COVID-19, were cleared by the Utah Department of Health. Even though their two-week quarantine periods ended, all Jazz players and staff will continue to practice distancing while limiting time outside of their home to essential activities, in accordance with recommendations by the NBA and the Centers for Disease Control.
But even during this difficult time, the players on the team have stayed close and in good spirits.
“We have a Jazz group chat that’s always blowing up,” forward Joe Ingles said. Ingles has stayed busy with his family and by starting up a new podcast, Ingles Insight.
Jazz All-Star Donovan Mitchell has kept in touch online, streaming video games with his teammates, other NBA players, and famed gamer Ninja.
Forward Georges Niang said he has been doing more reading. The big man has also been working out with his teammates via FaceTime. “I don’t know what is going to happen with the regular season, but when they’re ready to play we have to be ready to play,” Niang said in an interview on The Zone Sports Network Thursday. “Nobody is going to use the excuse that we were quarantined or anything like that. We have to be ready to go.”
Royce O’Neale has been part of that FaceTime workout group. But O’Neale has also staved off boredom in another way: the Jazz forward has quickly become the team’s most prolific TikTok personality.