NBA News: Jazz Stars Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert Clear COVID-19 Tests

Utah Jazz stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert were the first NBA players to receive positive diagnosis for COVID-19. As of Friday, they have been cleared by the Utah Department of Health.

It seems like it has been well over a month now since the NBA has been suspended from all activities. Crazy enough, it has only been a little over two weeks. I guess time really does drag on when there are no sports going on.

That unfortunate, but necessary trend of suspending sports in America was first started by the NBA a couple of weeks ago when a case of COVID-19 appeared in the league. Just before the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder were getting ready to tip-off against each other, Utah's medical staff urged the referees to call the matchup off.

Hours before the Utah-OKC matchup, the Jazz's star big man Rudy Gobert was ruled out for the evening as he was fighting an illness. After undergoing multiple non-coronavirus tests with results coming back negative, team doctors had no choice but to find out if Gobert was dealing with a case of COVID-19 or not.

It turned out he was. And once the news got out that Gobert had tested positive for the coronavirus, the NBA suspended the season almost immediately. The following morning, Gobert's teammate, Donovan Mitchell, also received word that he was positive for the virus too. Then multiple players around the NBA tested positive as the weeks went on.

At this point, though, Gobert and Mitchell are reportedly in the clear. After getting tested, all Jazz players and personnel have been cleared by the Utah Department of Health, according to Sports Illustrated NBA Insider, Chris Mannix. These results won't speed up the return process of the NBA at all -- but any amount of positive news regarding COVID-19 for the NBA is a great sign moving forward.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_