Knicks say owner James Dolan isolated after positive coronavirus test

Tom Gatto

Knicks say owner James Dolan isolated after positive coronavirus test image

James Dolan has become the latest sports figure known to have tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Knicks, whom Dolan owns along with the NHL's New York Rangers, announced Saturday night that he is in self-isolation after receiving the test results. It did not say when he tested positive.

More than a dozen NBA players, staff and broadcasters are known to have contracted the disease. Four members of the Nets, who play in Brooklyn, tested positive early in the outbreak. Kevin Durant was one of the four.

CORONAVIRUS: NBA players, other figures who have tested positive

New York has been one of the areas most affected by the coronavirus in the U.S. The city has recorded 672 deaths related to COVID-19 since the disease's outbreak earlier this year, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.

Dolan reportedly was resistant to the NBA staging games in empty arenas as a response to the coronavirus outbreak in early March. Sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that the Knicks were one of three NBA teams (the Rockets and Pacers) that wanted "a formal governmental mandate" to close games to the public. The league suspended the season on March 11 after Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive.

Dolan's Rangers share Madison Square Garden with the Knicks.

 

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.