Jared Dudley says he doesn’t have coronavirus

One by one, members of the Los Angeles Lakers are letting it be known that they were not the two players on the team to test positive for COVID-19, or the coronavirus. JaVale McGee’s sister, Imani McGee-Stafford, tweeted that he doesn’t have it, while Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports revealed that Cook doesn’t have it after speaking with Cook on his podcast.

Jared Dudley, as one might expect for someone of his open candor, didn’t even use a proxy, simply telling Frank Isola and Wes Wilcox of Sirius XM Radio that he wasn’t one of the two players to test positive:

“I’m feeling great... I did not positive, because they said the doctor would hit you up, and the doctor has not hit me up. I feel great.”

And for those worried that Dudley just hadn’t been called yet, there is almost no way the Lakers would have released a statement about two anonymous players testing positive had said players not been told yet.

So between Dudley, Cook and McGee, that’s now three players on the Lakers that we know weren’t the two to test positive, which leaves 14 other possibilities. According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the Lakers are planning to test staffers and coaches who had close contact with the players, as well as the remaining three players on their roster who were not tested the first time after already having left town.

We’ll see if the players who tested positive will eventually reveal themselves, but they also may not. For now, as a protection for all players and everyone else around the league, the NBA has mandated that all teams must shut down their practice facilities by today. For more information on the coronavirus, visit the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website at cdc.gov/coronavirus.

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