https://theathletic.com/2296068/202...t-with-covid-19-hit-me-bad/?source=dailyemail
quick with a lengthy piece from interviews with Nassir little about what happened in the bubble and his recent bout with the covid and the severity of his condition during it.
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But during Thursday’s practice in San Francisco, where the Blazers will play Golden State on Friday, there was significance to the feat, because of what Little has gone through this month. On Dec. 1, as part of the NBA’s testing of players and staff, Little learned that he had contracted COVID-19.
It wasn’t until Dec. 22 that Little recorded his first negative test and was able to rejoin the team. In between, he experienced three weeks of hell.
“For me, I was on the worst part of the spectrum, the hard end of the disease,” Little said. “I didn’t have to go to the hospital or be on a ventilator, but I went through it bad. It hit me really bad. For about seven to 10 days, I was just really miserable.”
Although he is back around his teammates, Little is far from returning to a game. The virus ravaged his body. He lost 20 pounds. And his conditioning and strength are nowhere near where he needs to be to compete against NBA players.
He says he doesn’t know where he contracted the virus. He said his family — his mom, dad and two sisters — flew in from Florida to Portland the day before Thanksgiving. The next day, the NBA began its daily testing. Little said he recorded negative tests until Dec. 1, when he and three other Blazers staff members tested positive. His father, Harold, and 23-year-old sister Kamaria also tested positive. His mother, April, and 26-year-old sister Sanasia tested negative.
“I tried to calculate where I caught it, and it’s impossible to really calculate,” Little said. “We had some staff members test positive, so I could have got it at the gym, and I could have given it to my dad and sister, or they could have had it and gave it to me when they came for Thanksgiving. Or, I could have touched something and rubbed my eyes … it’s impossible to know.
His battle with COVID-19 is another chapter in a bizarre and trying first season with the Blazers, when it seemed like every time the first-round pick was turning a corner, he was thwarted by a fluke circumstance.What happened over the next 22 days was a personal hell that Little says he wouldn’t wish on anybody. He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t drink. He couldn’t watch television because of splitting headaches. From the Dec. 1 diagnosis until his first negative test on Dec. 22, he lost 20 pounds.
When the Blazers arrived at the Orlando bubble in July, one of the growing storylines on the team was the marked improvement of Little.
From the time the league was suspended in March until the Blazers started practicing again in July,
coaches and players were talking about the noticeable difference in Little.
“I was getting a lot of work in, and improving at a pretty fast rate,” Little said. “I felt like I had a legitimate shot at playing significant minutes in the bubble. I felt like I had earned my keep.”
But on the eve of the team’s first scrimmage, during a transition drill during practice, Little went up to dunk. As he was airborne, a teammate tried to block his shot, and in the process, knocked Little off balance. He crashed to the floor.
“I just remember I hit the floor, and I hit my back, my elbow and my head at the same time,” Little said. “So I didn’t know what body part to rub first.”
He was diagnosed with a concussion and battled blurred vision in the days afterward. But as his head healed, it was also at work, too. He sensed the bubble was his opportunity. Trevor Ariza, the team’s starting small forward, opted out of the bubble to be with his family, opening up an opportunity for playing time. And with his dramatic improvement during the shutdown, Little felt this was his moment.
“I rushed myself back,” Little said.
Less than two weeks later, at the end of a practice, he was playing three-on-three with Anfernee Simons, Jaylen Hoard, Wenyen Gabriel, Jaylen Adams and assistant coach Jannero Pargo.
“I was hoopin’, going crazy, getting buckets,” Little remembered. “Then I remember walking and the lights slowly started to get dim. And I was like, ‘Whoa.’ Then the next thing you know, it felt like I went to sleep. It felt like I jumped in bed and went to sleep.”
He fainted on the court, face first.
In his first practice, he merely shot free throws. On Tuesday in Los Angeles he went live against a coach, posting up. On Thursday in San Francisco, he did a series of sprinting drills, and drills where he dunked.
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When he came to, he was confused.
After a bank of tests and bloodwork, it was determined Little suffered from dehydration. But he says his fainting had something to do with his concussion and coming back too soon from it.
“To rush myself back from the concussion was nobody’s fault but mine,” Little said. “Doctors can only go off my word, so it’s easy for a player to kind of finagle it in a sense to say whatever you need to say.”
In his first practice, he merely shot free throws. On Tuesday in Los Angeles he went live against a coach, posting up. On Thursday in San Francisco, he did a series of sprinting drills, and drills where he dunked.
“I am able to explode now,” Little said. “And I’m getting my wind back again.”
His return to games is weeks away. He says he doesn’t even want to think about a possible return, the memory still fresh of him rushing back from his concussion in Orlando.
“I don’t want to put a date on it, because I learned the last time I rushed myself,” Little said. “I’m just going to go with it. I definitely don’t want to just sit in this space of being in limbo, so I know I’m going to have to push through some discomfort at some point and take that jump. But for the most part, I’m just dealing with it, and doing what I have to do that day.”
As he inches back to normalcy, he wants to spread a word of caution. COVID-19 is real.
“Going through this, bruh … I’m telling everybody: Please be careful,” Little said. “I would not wish this on anybody, because that’s the worst I have felt in my life. And it is relentless, every day. Going to a party? It’s not worth it. Eating at a restaurant? It’s not worth what I just went through. Nothing is worth it. And the crazy thing is, it could have been worse for me. I’m fortunate I’m doing better and on the mend.”
