Coronavirus Update: Warriors Steve Kerr Says USA Basketball Plans 'Up In The Air' For Tokyo 2020
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/AP) -- With his team's NBA season on hold because of the coronavirus, Golden State Warriors head coach and USA Olympic assistant coach said Tuesday plans were "up in the air" when it comes to this summer's Tokyo 2020 Games.
Kerr said on a conference call Tuesday that he has had some recent contact with U.S. head coach Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs as plans for the Olympics continue.
The Warrior coach's comments came on a day when developments in the continuing spread of the coronavirus underscored the reason the league has put its season on hold.
Kerr's former star player, Kevin Durant, announced he was one of four members of the Brooklyn Nets who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Durant confirmed the test results to @TheAthleticNBA. He said he was feeling fine asked "everyone be careful, take care of yourself and quarantine. We're going to get through this."
Kevin Durant tested positive for coronavirus, Durant tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Durant says he is feeling fine: "Everyone be careful, take care of yourself and quarantine. We're going to get through this."
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 17, 2020
With the new results, the league's total number of players who have tested positive with the virus rose to seven.
The Nets said one player was exhibiting symptoms, while the other three were asymptomatic. All four players -- who the team did not identify -- have been isolated and were under the care of team physicians.
Kerr is on Popovich's Tokyo 2020 staff that also includes Atlanta Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce and Villanova coach Jay Wright. Those were the three assistants under Popovich last summer as well at the Basketball World Cup in China.
"Everything's just up in the air," Kerr said. "There's no sense of whether things are going to be delayed or anything. We're all kind of wondering what's going to happen and so is the rest of the world."
The Olympics are scheduled to start July 24. The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday that the uncertainty of things right now is "an unprecedented situation for the whole world."
"The IOC remains fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and with more than four months to go before the Games there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage," the IOC said, adding that any other "speculation at this moment would be counter-productive."
USA Basketball revealed last month a list of 44 players — most of the league's biggest American stars among them including Warriors Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — who are under consideration for the Olympic team. The original plan was to pick a 12-player roster by early June, and for that team to gather in Las Vegas in early July to begin training camp.
Officially, no part of that plan has changed yet. Like the NBA and the rest of the sports world, USA Basketball is very much in wait-and-see mode.
"We're just going to plan as if it's going to happen and we're going to try to put together a roster," Kerr said. "That's all we can do."