At the middle of the cancellation of Wednesday’s game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings was referee Courtney Kirkland. As connections were quickly made between Rudy Gobert, who was the first player to test positive for the coronavirus, and those who had contact with him in recent weeks, Kirkland’s name came up as one of the referees in the Jazz-Raptors game on Monday.
While the game would be canceled and teams, players and coaches moved on, physically and mentally, from that night, Kirkland was left in isolation in Sacramento while undergoing a test for the coronavirus.
On Saturday, results of Kirkland’s test came back negative.
As it stands, the only players, officials or coaches who have tested positive for the coronavirus are Jazz teammates Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. Most recently, the Raptors released a statement that all members of the organization had tested positive for the virus.
The Pelicans have not undergone tests for the virus and only encouraged players to be tested if they experienced symptoms of the virus.
