Lakers, Kevin Durant & Other Nets Are Clear of COVID-19

Nobody could've guessed the coronavirus would affect the NBA as much as it did. A few weeks back, before the league postponed the season, there were talks of potentially preventing fans from attending games in an attempt to help stop the spread of COVID-19 not only among other fans -- but to NBA players as well.

That all went downhill once an NBA player's coronavirus test came back positive just three weeks from today. Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert became the first player to have a case of COVID-19 within the league. A day later, his teammate, Donovan Mitchell, became the second.

Since then, cases of the virus were popping up everywhere as it became a domino effect. At this point, however, the domino effect is moving in a positive direction. Instead of COVID-19 cases growing amongst players in the NBA, the virus is beginning to clear out.

Last week, Detroit Pistons big man Christian Wood was the first to be cleared from the virus. Then, Gobert and Mitchell both tested negative not too long after. Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart became the fourth player to be cleared on Sunday night, and now, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets have reported good news as well.

As of Tuesday night, the two undisclosed Lakers players have been reported as symptom-free, according to Lakers' analyst, Mike Bresnahan. Then, on Wednesday morning, Brooklyn Nets General Manager Sean Marks confirmed that the four players of their organization who have tested positive for COVID-19 are now symptom-free as well, which includes their superstar forward, Kevin Durant.

At this point, there are now only five known cases of COVID-19 remaining in the NBA. One of them happens to be a member of the Denver Nuggets franchise, and three of them are members of the Philadelphia 76ers. The latest known case occurred to New York Knicks owner, James Dolan, which was made public by the team this past Saturday.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_