For nine days, the closest head coach Scott Brooks came to some of his players was when he would pass by them on his way in or out of the gated parking lot where the Washington Wizards received their daily COVID-19 tests. Brooks would wave and honk. No one dared roll their windows down -- just to be safe. And while he flashed a friendly smile when passing by, the coach was hiding his own anxiety and fear.
As seven Wizards players entered health and safety protocols over a four-day span in early January, Brooks was thinking the same thing as everyone in the organization.