Timberwolves partnering with Mayo Clinic to lead NBA coronavirus study

No one could've imagined that sports across the world would have to put their seasons on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, but here we are. The NBA was the first professional sports league in the United States to halt its season after a player, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, tested positive for the novel virus. Now, the league will be the first to implement another change due to the pandemic.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are partnering with the Mayo Clinic to lead a league-wide study that aims to identify what percentage of NBA players and staff members have developed coronavirus antibodies, according to ESPN's Malika Andrews.

Studying the presence of antibodies will allow teams to identify people who may have a lower risk of contracting the deadly virus. This study, Andrews adds, is supported by the league office and players' association and is expected to have all 30 teams participate.

"We are learning about this disease," Timberwolves Vice President of Basketball Performance and Technology Dr. Robby Sikka said, according to Andrews. "We have learned a lot in two months. So if we can take the next two months, learn on the fly, mitigate risk, then we can move pretty quickly to do the right things to have safe play."

Timberwolves president Gersson Rosas hired Sikka in 2019 as part of his desire to include a doctor who specialized in not only medicine but technology as well.

Minnesota's fight against COVID-19 became a bit more personal when Karl Anthony Towns' mother Jaqueline Cruz died last month because of complications due to the virus. Before she died, though, Towns donated $100,000 to coronavirus related research efforts at the Mayo Clinic.

Major League Baseball and Stanford University conducted a similar study last month with employees, but found that only 0.7 percent of the people in the study tested positive for the antibodies.