The video of Jazz Utah player Rudy Gobert, who is believed to have tested positive for Coronavirus on Thursday, deliberately touching every microphone at a news conference just 48 hours prior has gone viral on social media.

Gobert reportedly mocked members of the Jazz media on Monday, in what appeared to be a show of bravado about the disease when he ran his hands along the mics and recording devices placed at the podium just before leaving the press conference.

The Frenchman later has become the ‘Patient Zero’ for NBA as he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), prompting Utah’s game against Okhlahoma City to be abandoned just before tip-off. Soon after, the NBA season was suspended until further notice.

It is worth noting that the league or the team has not officially confirmed the identity of the player yet.

Utah’s game was abruptly postponed and the players were effectively quarantined in the locker room area.

The Jazz issued a statement saying one of their players had flu-like symptoms but initially tested negative for influenza and a respiratory infection. The decision was made to test again for COVID-19, for which he tested positive.

“A preliminary positive result came back right before tip-off of the Utah Jazz-Oklahoma City game,” the Jazz statement said. “The decision was correctly made by the NBA to postpone the game.”

Here’s a tweet from Jazz reporter on March 10 regarding the incident:

The incident has understandably not gone down well with many:

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is quoted as saying by Associated Press that he was stunned when the news came down, adding that “this is much bigger than basketball.”

“This is a global pandemic where people’s lives are at stake,” Cuban said. “I’m a lot more worried about my kids, and my mom is 82 years old, and talking to her, and telling her to stay in the house, than I am about when we play our next game.”

Update: This is now a developing story:

(with AFP inputs)