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Nets announce players are symptom-free after 4 positive coronavirus tests

The Brooklyn Nets’ battle with COVID-19, at least for now, has come to an end.

Nets general manager Sean Marks confirmed on Wednesday that their entire roster is now symptom-free, more than two weeks after four players tested positive for the coronavirus.

The team and its traveling party completed the two-week quarantine, too.

[ Coronavirus: How the sports world is responding to the pandemic ]

Kevin Durant revealed that he was one of the four players who tested positive for the coronavirus shortly after the news broke. The other three players did not identify themselves. Only one of the four players who tested positive ever showed symptoms.

There were more than 206,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States as of Wednesday afternoon, the most among any country in the world, according to The New York Times.

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New York has seen the most cases by far, with nearly 84,000 confirmed cases and nearly 2,000 deaths by Wednesday afternoon alone. The city has essentially been shut down in recent days while field hospitals, including one inside Central Park, are being set up to help care for the surging number of patients.

Marks said that team owner Joe Tsai and the Alibaba group are working to help provide personal protective equipment to New York-area hospitals, which are dealing with an extreme shortage of the necessary gear, according to ESPN.

“As it pertains to the team, I sense — like all of us, like the rest of New York and really the rest of the globe — we're trying to deal with this as best we can,” Marks said Wednesday, via ESPN.

“We know we have a long way to go here, and it’s gonna take every single person, every staff member, every player.”

Coronavirus in the NBA

The Nets were one of several teams to have players or staff members test positive for the coronavirus since the NBA suspended operations on March 11.

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was the first positive case in the league, which prompted it to suspend the season, and his teammate Donovan Mitchell also tested positive. Two unnamed Los Angeles Lakers players had tested positive, though were cleared on Tuesday. Pistons forward Christian Wood had fully recovered after his diagnosis last week.

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart also tested positive and quickly went on CNN to urge people to take the virus seriously.

The New York Knicks also announced that owner James Dolan tested positive on Saturday.

Multiple teams, including the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets, have announced that people within their organizations had tested positive, though did not specify who.

Will Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant play this season, should the league resume?

While it’s certainly not how they had hoped, the NBA’s prolonged hiatus has provided both Kyrie Irving and Durant extra time to recover from their respective injuries.

Irving underwent shoulder surgery early last month, and was expected to miss the rest of the season. Durant is still recovering from an Achilles tendon injury he suffered during the Finals last year with the Golden State Warriors, and was ruled out for the whole year.

Now, the break may not necessarily benefit them. They are both continuing their respective rehabilitations, Marks said, but the Nets’ training facility — like every other training facility — was closed by the NBA amid the pandemic, leaving both Durant and Irving to find other locations to rehab. And, at this point, it’s still unclear whether the NBA will return at all.

The hiatus has undoubtedly altered their return dates. Until Marks knows more in the coming weeks, both about their progress and the league’s plans to return as a whole, he isn’t willing to put a specific date on it.

“I couldn’t give an answer on when they’ll play this season,” Marks said, via ESPN. “I don’t think it’s fair to those athletes nor the performance team to put a timeline on it. I think everyone is dealing with bigger, far more pressing things.”

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