Utah Jazz Lose First Player to COVID Protocols

 

At 27-10, standing 3rd in the Western Conference, the Utah Jazz have had a pretty successful season thus far. But perhaps most impressive of all, is the fact that they are the only team in the NBA that hadn't had a single player enter COVID health and safety protocols. 

Until now. 

A first for the Utah Jazz this season: Joe Ingles has entered the league's Covid protocols, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 4, 2022

Joe Ingles will miss at least six days if he can't produce two negative tests 24 hours apart. 

The irony of the Jazz being the last team to have a player test positive for COVID, is that it was their own player, Rudy Gobert, whose positive test last March 11, 2020, was the first ever for an NBA player, and effectively led to the shut down of the NBA, and really, the entire sports world. 

Despite their clean record up until this point of the season, the Jazz were well aware that it was only a matter of time before the omicron variant caught up to them as well.

“I think we’re all kind of prepared for, at some point, it to creep in,” Mike Conley said just four days ago. “Because it’s everywhere and right now it is on all of us to be responsible and try to practice our social distancing.”

Head coach Quin Snyder is aware that the strong run his team has been on is at risk in this environment. “There’s just so much that we can’t predict and can’t know,” Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. “One of my biggest concerns is just the fabric of our team.”

With their first positive test, the Jazz hope just hope that they can keep that 'fabric' from coming apart at the seams.

Photo Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports