Milwaukee Bucks guard Eric Bledsoe has revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19, and is not with the team in Orlando.
The Milwaukee Bucks have been getting back into the swing of things in Orlando in recent days as the NBA gears up to resume its season at Walt Disney World Resort. At least, that’s true for most Bucks players, anyway.
Just a couple of days before the Bucks were set to leave for Orlando, news emerged that a positive coronavirus test had been registered by a member of the Bucks’ traveling party, leading to the practice facility being closed as a precaution.
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As is often the case with the Bucks, secrecy has reigned in the time since, with no details disclosed pertaining to the identity of any individuals who had tested positive, including whether they were a player, coach, or a member of the support staff.
That is until reports emerged on Thursday night, which revealed that Milwaukee’s starting point guard, Eric Bledsoe, has tested positive for COVID-19 and not traveled with the team to Orlando.
At this time, it remains unclear as to whether Bledsoe is the only member of the organization to test positive.
The news was broken by Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports and TNT, in a report provided for the Inside the NBA crew on TNT:
"“[Bledsoe] has not been here since the team arrived last week. I spoke to Bledsoe, and he told me the reason he’s not here is that he tested positive for COVID-19. He told me he’s not feeling any symptoms, and he really feels good. And he’s hoping that he will get here as soon as possible, and as soon as he fulfills all of the NBA’s protocols.”"
Given that it was common knowledge that the Bucks had been dealing with a positive test, the news won’t necessarily come as a shock to many Milwaukee fans. Many amateur sleuths, yours truly included, will have been closely scanning through photos and videos shared by the Bucks and the team’s players on social media in recent days, putting together a running count on who in fact was present in Orlando.
On that front, Bledsoe’s absence from Bucks’ content on social media had been striking and easily the most conspicuous, to say the least.
With that, the Bucks join many other teams in having had COVID-19 directly affect its players. And with Bledsoe, it’s not just any player, but the team’s starting point guard who has a strong case for being the Bucks’ third best player.
In the bigger picture, it may just add a whole range of new questions to what remains of the season for Bledsoe and the Bucks, but all of that will come later.
First and foremost, though, the hope will be for Bledsoe to make a speedy and complete recovery, allowing him to join up with his teammates in Orlando, as he reportedly hopes to do.