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Speaking on a video conference call with
reporters, Lindsey stated that the players are already healing
their relationship, which was damaged by Gobert's actions at the
start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Gobert treated COVID-19 cavalierly in early March, with ESPN's
Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that he went around touching other
players and their belongings. Gobert tested positive for the
virus on March 11, prompting the NBA to suspend its season, and
Mitchell tested positive on March 12.
Gobert subsequently apologized for his earlier joking attitude
toward the coronavirus.
Lindsey said Tuesday, "They're ready to put this behind them,
move forward, act professionally. Look, the COVID-19 night of
March (11) was really unprecedented. It brought a microscope to
our team, and we get it. With that said, we're very pleased with
the collective makeup of our group, Donovan and Rudy in
particular.
"They've said their piece to each other, they've both visited at
the ownership level, at management level, the coaches level, the
players level with each other, they're fully participating in
our Zoom workouts.
"We fully expect the team to come together in a great way and
continue to move forward as a group. ... At the most basic
level, they know they need each other to accomplish the goals
that we want to accomplish and that's to be the last team
standing in the NBA."
All Jazz players and staff members were free from the
coronavirus as of March 27, the team announced.
Gobert said April 12 on Instagram Live regarding Mitchell, "It's
true that we didn't speak for a while after this, but we spoke a
few days ago. We're both ready to go out there and try to win a
championship for this team."
The Jazz (41-23) had won five games in a row before losing their
last contest prior to the NBA's shutdown. They sit in fourth
place in the Western Conference standings, 1 1/2 games behind
the Denver Nuggets (43-22) and one game ahead of the Oklahoma
City Thunder (40-24) and the Houston Rockets (40-24).
--Field Level Media
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