Report: Blake Griffin Pledges $100,000 to Arena Staff After NBA Suspends Season

Pistons forward Blake Griffin pledged $100,000 to his home arena's staff on Friday, according to Rod Beard of the Detroit News. 

Griffin's gesture came just two days after the NBA suspended its season because of the worsening coronavirus outbreak.

He joins Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Love in pledging $100,000 to employees at their home arenas. 

Shortly after the NBA suspended play on Wednesday, Marc Cuban announced during an interview with ESPN that he would set up a payment plan for his stadium's hourly workers, an initiative that has been co-opted by the Hawks and Rockets.  

The NBA will be out of commission for at least 30 days after Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, which has halted commerce and culture worldwide. Prior to Gobert's diagnosis, the league had been considering contingency plans, including playing all games without fans or moving games to less affected cities. With Gobert as Patient Zero, however, the league couldn't take any more chances. 

On Thursday, it was announced that Gobert's teammate Donovan Mitchell was also infected.

This week saw almost every major American sports organization cancel or postpone operations. March Madness was canceled after the NCAA initially planned to play the tournament without fans. The NHL suspended its operations indefinitely. MLB canceled spring training and the first two weeks of the season.

There are more than 135,400 confirmed cases of the virus, which the WHO has classified as a pandemic. In the U.S., at least 1,875 have been diagnosed with COVID-19, with more than 41 dead.