Anthony Davis says he tested negative for coronavirus

The Los Angeles Lakers tested most of the players on their roster for COVID-19, or the coronavirus, in the aftermath of four members of the Brooklyn Nets — their last opponent before the season was suspended — being diagnosed with the disease.

Two of those tests came back positive, news that the Lakers responded to by committing to test the rest of the roster and other people in the organization who had “close contact with players.”

The Lakers did not name the players that had positive tests, but Anthony Davis told Tania Ganguli of the L.A. Times that he isn’t one of them:

“I knew right away we would probably get tested,” Davis said. “It’s kind of tricky because some guys, you feel fine and you could have it, asymptomatic. And some guys you have all the symptoms. I felt fine and I felt great. I still do. [At the time] I was like that doesn’t mean I don’t have it. We all showed up and took the test. It was fine.”

Davis said his test returned negative. He and teammates have been under self-quarantine orders for two weeks, a period of time that will end on Monday.

Davis is the fourth Lakers player to publicly confirm that they don’t have the coronavirus. JaVale McGee’s sister, Imani McGee Stafford, tweeted that he is not one of them them. Neither is Quinn Cook, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Jared Dudley came out on the radio and said that he also did not test positive.

It is still unknown which two of the thirteen other players on the roster (including the team’s pair of two-way players) were the ones to test positive, or how they’re doing (they were asymptomatic when they got the results).

We are rounding up every story on how the threat of coronavirus is impacting the Lakers and NBA.

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Davis and the Lakers are doing their part to help in the fight against coronavirus. He and Lakers assistant general manager Jesse Buss are providing food and masks to Los Angeles-area healthcare workers on the frontlines and families affected by the widespread business and school closures, something Davis says is important to him in part because he has family and friends who work in healthcare and are helping in the battle against this pandemic.

Two of Davis’ teammates, LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma, had both previously committed to helping their hometowns fight the coronavirus in various ways, while James showed support for the workers on the UCLA Health Staff.

Those who’d like to help from home can join Davis in donating to the cause at the “Help Feed the Frontline Fighting COVID 19 - LA” GoFundMe page. Or if money is tight, everyone can do their part by just staying at home and helping to slow the spread of this thing. For the latest information on the coronavirus, visit the Centers for Disease Control’s website at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/.

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