National Basketball Association suspends season due to COVID-19 concerns

March 13, 2020

On Wednesday, the United States' National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended its professional basketball season due to concerns regarding COVID-19. The NBA's decision followed a player testing positive for the COVID-19 virus.

The NBA did not release the identity of the player in question in its announcement. They did say he was not present at in, where the  were to play against the.

According to its press release, the NBA was "suspending game play following the conclusion of [Wednesday's] schedule of games until further notice." The Jazz's game was cancelled, as was another NBA game Wednesday between the and the. Other games scheduled for Wednesday were still held, according to NBC News.

The United States' other major basketball organization, the, which runs college basketball, has cancelled its own tournament, , for both men's and women's leagues.

According to, as of Wednesday, there were at least 1,279 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States.  reported there were at least 118,381 cases worldwide.