Maybe it’s hyperbolic to say the NBA was on our televisions the night the world changed. Maybe it’s not hyperbolic at all. Only time will tell whether word of Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert’s positive test for the COVID-19 virus on March 11, which led to the NBA immediately halting play and set the protocol for other sports leagues to shut down, will be a lasting, where-we’re-you-when-it-happened? cultural touchstone.
This much we do know right now: While the pandemic continues to affect our normal way of life in myriad ways, the NBA has found what appears to be a feasible way to return.