While it fell through the cracks to some extent amidst a hectic trade-deadline week, the latest update from the NBA and NBPA on coronavirus testing results was another favorable one. According to the league and the union, just one player out of 485 tested positive for COVID-19 between March 17-24.
The NBA and NBPA would certainly rather see that number at zero, but the fact that there have been no postponements so far in the second half is a good sign that teams have avoided an outbreak since the All-Star Game.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- LaMarcus Aldridge and Andre Drummond have received most of the buzz as the biggest names on the buyout market, but John Hollinger of The Athletic views Otto Porter, Kelly Olynyk and Gorgui Dieng as more appealing targets — if their respective teams are willing to move on from them.
- Jabari Young of CNBC takes an early look at the NBA’s next TV deal, reporting that people in league circles believe the league could seek a deal worth a total of $75 billion. The NBA’s current TV rights deal doesn’t expire until 2025, so there’s still plenty of time to work out the next one.
- Our JD Shaw provided a pair of updates on former second-round picks this week, reporting that veteran wing Devyn Marble is joining Maccabi Haifa in Israel and that 23-year-old guard Tony Carr underwent successful surgery to repair a torn ACL (Twitter links). Marble was selected 56th overall in the 2014 draft and appeared in 44 NBA games with Orlando, while Carr – the No. 51 pick in 2018 – has yet to make his NBA debut.
- Former NBA head coach Stan Albeck passed away at age 89 on Thursday, as Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News writes. Albeck coached the Cavaliers, Spurs, Nets and Bulls from 1979-86 and also spent time as an assistant on a handful of other NBA staffs.
More must-reads: