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NBA doctors say there are potential long term damaging effects of the coronavirus according to ESPN. The coronavirus could have potential long-lasting respiratory and cardiac effects, which would make continuing an NBA career difficult.

The coronavirus has killed 137,000 people in the United States so far. Younger people are able to recover in two weeks and be fine. While that is true, it can still cause long term effects. For an athlete that is something, you don’t want to hear.

An NBA GM told ESPN:

“There are unknown effects it has on lung capacity, unknown effects it has on cardiac health. What if a 24-year-old catches it in Orlando and, in 14 days, he quarantines and is fine, but then he has these everlasting heart problems? [Or he] gets winded so easily, or he becomes a little bit too susceptible to fatigue? … These are all the unknowns.”

NBA players need to run and jump. All that is possible with the heart. Many players have opted out of the Orlando bubble because of their safety. If they didn’t play now it will be interesting to see their status in the future. A player’s best investment is their health. NBA players have to make sure they take care of their bodies first. There is life after basketball. The novel coronavirus poses a serious threat to an NBA player’s life after retirement.

“The amount of cardiac damage can increase if you continue to exercise in the face of an active infection,” said Matthew Martinez, a consulting cardiologist for NBA. “So you’re somebody with a low-grade fever, and you have a little bit of symptoms. And, a week later, you’re fine. Do you have cardiac involvement? Now, if you’re a regular person, like me, and you’re going to go do your [two- to three-mile runs] every day … that’s a different discussion than if you’re a professional athlete. So that’s the reason why we worry about it that high level of exercise intensity can increase your risk of having an adverse event when there’s cardiac damage related to a virus.”