Celtics Talk Podcast: MacMullan, Mannix, Maxwell and Goodman react to NBA suspending the season

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The NBA made the stunning -- though necessary -- decision Wednesday to suspend the season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The league's decision came shortly after one of its players, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, tested positive for coronavirus. It was learned Thursday that Gobert's teammate, Donovan Mitchell, also tested positive.

Several sports leagues have followed suit in suspending operations, including MLB and NHL. NCAA canceled all of its winter and spring championships, including both men's and women's Division I tournaments.

On this week's episode of the Celtics Talk Podcast, some of the biggest names in basketball sports media shared their thoughts on how the NBA is handling the coronavirus, and what’s ahead for the league.

ESPN's Jackie MacMullan explained how this was the "worst-case scenario for the NBA," and Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix said there "isn't a lot of optimism" around the league that this NBA season will resume.

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The Boston Celtics are one of the teams that will have to self-quarantine as they played against Gobert and the Jazz twice in the last three weeks (Feb. 26 and March 6).

C's great Cedric Maxwell, who travels with the team as a radio broadcaster, shared his immediate reaction to the unsettling news.

I was very serious about it. I mean, I was thinking about what happened in Italy where they were quarantining 12 million people and then New Rochelle, New York. And, you know, self-quarantine areas there. So, it definitely concerned me ... 

I don't even know what suspending the season means, if it's going to stop now and continue in a month from now with the playoffs or what, but this possibly the craziest thing that's happened to me since I've been in the NBA.

College basketball analyst Jeff Goodman also joined the show discussing how the NCAA could cancel its Division I tournaments altogether, which has since become a reality.

To hear more about what MacMullan, Mannix, Maxwell, and Goodman have to say on the NBA's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, check out this week's episode of the Celtics Talk Podcast, available on the NBC Sports Boston Podcast Network and YouTube.

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