Boston Celtics: Jaylen Brown showing leadership during Coronavirus outbreak

The Coronavirus outbreak has caused mass hysteria across the globe, forcing Adam Silver to bravely suspend the season until further notice. Now, teams such as the Boston Celtics are forced into self-quarantine after one of their recent opponents tested positive for the virus.

Recently seen joking about the disease at a post-game press-conference, Wednesday Utah Jazz All-Star center Rudy Gobert reportedly tested positive for the Coronavirus. His own All-Star teammate Donovan Mitchell has since tested positive as well, forcing some of their most recent opponents to go into self-quarantine: this includes the Boston Celtics.

According to sources, teams who have played the Jazz within the past 10 days are being told to self-quarantine. Last Friday’s matchup against Utah groups the C’s in with four other organizations who have played the Jazz in this span such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons and the Toronto Raptors.

First off, I want to state that though it was an unfortunate decision for Gobert to make light of such a potentially devastating virus, we should try to refrain from villainizing the center for frankly, to this point, the delivery of facts pertaining to the Coronavirus has been far from efficient. With the fact that this strain of the virus is still so new, there are many unknowns about it and those who are considered to be experts on the subject are still finding new details and statistics about COVID-19 seemingly every day.

However, what’s done is done and the virus has made it’s way to the NBA, forcing commissioner Adam Silver to suspend the 2019-20 season “until further notice” which, in my opinion, should be commended.

Rather than playing out tonight’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, members of the Boston Celtics, as previously mentioned, will instead be in the midst of self-quarantining themselves, which is expected to last up to two weeks.

Through this trying time, patience and courage will be tested. When a team is met with adversity, typically the way they get through it is by being supported by strong leadership. With the C’s being smack-dab in the middle of this pandemic, the organization’s leaders need to step up to keep them grounded, level headed and feel supported.

Already, we’ve seen the team’s fourth year wing Jaylen Brown take to social media to share his thoughts on the subject and stressing that this is not a joking matter, as many people could be devastatingly effected by the virus.

Through these troubling times, we can only hope the team’s leaders such as Brown, Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart keep everyone in check, stay in touch and keep spirits & morale high despite their current arrangements.

Strong leadership is a key to success, not just in the NBA, but in the world. This forced self-quarantine is as good a time as any for the leaders on the Boston Celtics to step up to keep this championship-aspiring team afloat.

It appears Jaylen Brown has already begun to showcase his leadership. Let’s see who else on this shamrocks squad comes forth to join him.