Listen to That’s A Rap #79: Life without the NBA

The first (and second) case of the Coronavirus strain has infected the Utah Jazz. With Rudy Gobert (and now Donovan Mitchell) contracting the disease, the NBA moved swiftly and abruptly suspended the season.

There are plenty of layers to unwrap and plenty of questions that need answering, but one thing is certain: there will be no NBA games for at least 30 days!

We had to record a podcast to discuss, and were fortunate enough to get Derick Deonarain, CBC Radio Producer, to re-join the boys — albeit in the middle of Wednesday evening’s news storm. Listen to the latest episode and chime in with your initial thoughts.

On This Episode:

The NBA season has been suspended. It’s a powerful sentence that continues to elicit shock. The COVID-19 virus that once resided only in Wuhan, China, has now spread across the world and affected everyone’s lives, directly and indirectly. With two NBA players testing positive for the virus (high-profile All-Stars too), the reality of the concern is hitting home much harder than anyone anticipated.

Many will point to Rudy Gobert’s actions at a recent press conference — touching all the microphones and recorders, as a form of mockery towards the COVID-19 virus. On the podcast, we focused our energy more on Rudy. We sincerely hope that he recovers and that, outside of Mitchell, he has not affected anyone else.

As bloggers and podcasters of the Toronto Raptors, we’d be remiss if we didn’t discuss how the team is affected — especially considering they were the last team to face the Jazz. With majority of the team at a social event during the NBA’s announcement, suffice to say that anyone at the event is concerned for their own well-being.

The team has since enforced a 14-day self-isolation period. As of this writing, there hasn’t been any word from the team that anyone has tested positive (or tested at all) for the virus. Regardless, the underlying theme in all of the hysteria, is to continue practicing good health practices. Wash your hands! As much as possible, work from home and/or avoid mass gatherings. Stay safe out there everybody!

2:50 - NBA dealing with the strain

3:50 - The Gobert Effect

6:10 - A Whole New (NBA) World

8:00 - Unreal scenes from Utah

11:30 - Trickle-down effect to the Raptors

15:45 - Other Jazz opponents

20:00 - Wait-and-see approach

23:00 - The impact of Donald Trump

28:35 - Heart of the issue: Affected people