Georges Niang talked about being in the Jazz locker room after Rudy Gobert touched the microphones and tested positive for COVID
Georges Niang joined Pardon My Take on their most recent episode to discuss what it’s like playing with Joel Embiid, NBA Summer League, “Minivan” nickname, and the infamous Rudy Gobert touching microphones incident at the start of the pandemic.
As I’m sure many 76ers fans know, Georges Niang was a member of the Utah Jazz and was with the team during the 2020 season. That was when Rudy Gobert was talking to media reporters about COVID-19 and then jokingly touched all the microphones before running out of the room. Shortly after, Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, being one of the first major professional athletes to do so.
Hard to forget that day, but it was interesting to see Niang talk about it, who was in the locker room at the time of the incident.
Georges Niang on Pardon My Take
Mr. Cat: So you also were in Utah when Rudy Gobert gave everyone COVID? Was that awkward?
Georges Niang: That was, that was.
Mr. Cat: Actually at the time, because we all didn’t know what was coming, I think we defended the move. We were like, “That’s fucking funny that he touched all the microphones.”
Georges Niang: Honestly, now that I think about it, it was a boss move. But to say it back then was like…
Mr. Cat: It was bad.
Georges Niang: You were like, “Bro, you did that AND you had COVID?! Are you fucking nuts?!”
Mr. Commenter: That was the day that sports just stopped.
Georges Niang: Dude!
Mr. Commenter: The world shut down.
Georges Niang: Like, who would have ever thought that? I remember telling someone, I was like, “There will never be a day when sports stops like that, you know what I mean?” And then next thing you know, it’s like, I have a buddy that gambles that, you know, hangs out with me, and he was betting on like Ukrainian soccer. It’s like, that’s the only sports that were on, it literally was shut down.
Georges Niang: But back to the Rudy Gobert thing, that was funny because I ended up going to have dinner at his house the night of, we played Toronto at home. And I was eating dinner with him after the game, and when we were talking about him coming in before we flew out to Oklahoma City, and he freakin’, he comes in late and was like, “Yeah, I wasn’t really feeling that well, that’s why I came in late.” Mind you, literally two days before, we had someone from the CDC come and be like, If you’re not feeling well, don’t come in, call someone.” And so, he comes in and he’s on the plane and he’s like sweating.
Mr. Cat: Oh no.
Georges Niang: And I think all of us thought, “You could have a common cold.”
Mr. Cat: Yeah, no one knew, yeah.
