LOS ANGELES • Utah Jazz centre Rudy Gobert, who drew the ire of many after becoming the first National Basketball Association (NBA) player to test positive for Covid-19 which led to the suspension of the season, has said he is still not fully recovered more than three months after the diagnosis.
Speaking to French outlet L'Equipe last week, he said of his condition: "The taste has returned, but the smell is still not 100 per cent. I can smell the smells, but not from afar. I spoke to specialists, who told me that it could take up to a year."
Loss of taste and smell are among the symptoms of the disease.
The Frenchman was diagnosed with coronavirus on March 11. Two days earlier, he was seen touching reporters' microphones stationed at the podium at the end of a media session that addressed, in part, the coronavirus.
On March 12, the Jazz confirmed that All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell also tested positive, with ESPN reporting at the time: "Jazz players privately say that Rudy Gobert had been careless in the locker room, touching other players and their belongings. Now a Jazz teammate has tested positive."
That led to a reported rift between the duo that was settled in May. Gobert also pledged to donate US$500,000 (S$697,000) for arena employees in Utah and Oklahoma City, as well as France. The Jazz were in Oklahoma City when he tested positive.
"I still feel strange things, but I have never been so long in my life without playing a basketball game," he told L'Equipe.
"I don't know if that is it or the aftermath of the virus. I'm starting to train thoroughly, I still haven't played five-on-five, but I train individually, I do boxing, swimming, I run in the mountains.
"Today, I would not say that I feel more tired than before. But I had experiences, a month and a half ago, which scared me. I felt like ants in my toes and wondered what it could be. There were quite a few little things like that."
The Jazz are among the 22 teams who will play when the NBA season resumes on July 30 at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida.
REUTERS
