Nine more NBA players have tested positive for COVID-19.
The NBA and NBPA announced the news in a joint statement on Thursday. The nine positives resulted from a test of 344 players between June 24-29. The results increase the total of confirmed player cases to 25 since testing on June 23 resulted in 16 positive cases.
That number does not represent all the positive cases among NBA players since the pandemic began. Players like Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell who self-identified earlier in the pandemic are not included in those numbers.
No player has self-identified since the NBA announced the new positive cases.
The NBA also announced that tests of 884 team staff members from June 23-29 have resulted in 10 positive cases.
COVID-19 and the NBA bubble
The NBA is regularly testing players and announcing the results as the league prepares to resume play in the Disney World bubble on July 30.
A surge in COVID-19 cases nationwide and in Florida have prompted concerns about the NBA bubble outside Orlando. The United States saw the biggest spike of the pandemic on Wednesday, with nearly 50,000 new cases nationwide.
Florida is one of the nation’s hot spots with cases surging after Gov. Ron DeSantis eased social distancing guidelines intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Florida announced more than 10,000 new cases on Thursday, increasing its total of positive COVID-19 cases to more than 169,000.