Harrison Barnes becomes fourth Sacramento Kings player to test positive for COVID-19
Kings forward Harrison Barnes was noticeably absent from photos, videos and social media posts over the first few days of the team’s stay inside the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World near Orlando.
Barnes explained his absence Tuesday, announcing he contracted COVID-19 before the Kings left for Orlando, the latest blow to a team that hopes to make a push for the NBA playoffs when play resumes July 30.
“Prior to the team leaving last week, I tested positive for Covid-19,” Barnes said in a statement posted on Twitter. “I’ve been primarily asymptomatic and am doing well. I’m quarantined and am abiding by the safety protocol until I’m cleared for action. I hope to join my team in Orlando when it is safe to do so! Stay safe out there.”
Four Kings test positive for COVID-19
Barnes, Sacramento’s starting small forward, is the fourth Kings player to contract the coronavirus. Buddy Hield, Jabari Parker and Alex Len also tested positive in the days and weeks before the team departed for Florida. Hield and Parker joined the team in Orlando on Sunday after clearing COVID-19 protocols. Len had not been cleared to join the team as of Sunday.
Richaun Holmes, the team’s starting center, was placed under mandatory 10-day quarantine Sunday after he said he inadvertently crossed the NBA campus line to pick up a food delivery.
Hield and Parker could be cleared to practice as early as Tuesday, but the absence of Barnes, Holmes and Len leaves the Kings without two starters and a key backup as they prepare to resume the Western Conference playoff race. The Kings will play the San Antonio Spurs on July 31 in the first of eight seeding games. They hope to snap a 13-year playoff drought, the longest active streak in the NBA.
The Kings are 3½ games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. To make the playoffs, they will likely have to outplay the Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers in seeding games, then beat the Grizzlies twice under a play-in scenario.
Kings coach Luke Walton is confident Holmes will be back before the season restarts, but he said he must prepare for the possibility that Barnes and Len will not be available.
“Those guys are big parts of what we do,” Walton said Tuesday. “… The approach we take as a group is big picture. We try to play everything out. We have to prepare as if we’re not going to have either one of those guys, and that’s just getting ready for what worst-case scenario would be, and there’s a reality that might (happen). So our mindset is we’re not going to have them with us, and we’re hopeful that they rejoin us.”
While Barnes is away, Kent Bazemore, Corey Brewer and DaQuan Jeffries will get more time at small forward. Walton said Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic might spend more time on the floor together as well. Bogdanovic has logged 55 percent of his minutes at small forward this season, according to basketball-reference.com, so he’s certainly capable of playing the position.
Barnes is in his second season with the Kings after being acquired in February 2019. Sacramento signed Barnes to a four-year, $85 million contract in June. He has started all 64 games for the Kings this season, averaging 14.7 points and 4.8 rebounds. His ability to log significant minutes at the power forward position has been critical to Walton’s small-ball lineups.
The Kings previously announced four members of their 35-person travel party were initially prevented from entering the bubble due to COVID-19 protocols. The team had not specified whether the fourth person was a player, but other than Hield, Parker and Len, Barnes was the only player who had not been seen in photos, videos or social media posts from the NBA bubble.
Barnes last appeared on Zoom
Barnes was last made available to the media in a Zoom call July 3 during mandatory individual workouts at the team’s practice facility. Two days later, the Kings announced they had shut down the facility after a fourth person tested positive for COVID-19.
During that interview, Barnes was asked how he felt after learning three teammates had contracted the virus.
“It was tough,” Barnes said. “I mean, Buddy, Alex, Jabari, those guys are working. We’ve been in touch with them for a while, so to not have them here, to not be able to see them with everybody else has been difficult, but at the same time we’re glad that they’re all feeling good. None of them are really showing symptoms. Hopefully we get them back as quick as possible.”
The NBA and National Basketball Players Association announced 19 players tested positive during in-market testing before teams converged on Orlando. Those players are staying in their home markets to recover until they are cleared to join the bubble under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and NBA rules.
Walton didn’t disclose Barnes absence or Holmes’ missteps when he addressed the media Sunday, but he hinted at significant roster uncertainty.
“That’s part of the things that all the teams are going through right now because with this is so much unknown,” Walton said. “There could be a week. There could be — hey, someone doesn’t come at all. That’s just the reality of what it is, so I’m very open to our team about that.
“We’re trying to create the mindset that we’re going to embrace all of it. We know it’s going to be crazy. People are going to join us. Maybe they won’t. Maybe people who are here test positive at some point, and every team has to go through this, so we’ve got to be ready to accept what our roles are. Our roles are going to change as this thing goes, and the teams that do that most efficiently are going to give themselves the best advantage.“
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 12:14 PM.
