ESPN’s E60 to Air Feature on Jazz’s Gobert

An ESPN feature will look back at Gobert’s rise to stardom and his historic COVID-19 diagnosis. (via E60)

It’s hard to believe it has nearly been a year since a Thunder team official sprinted onto the court at Chesapeake Energy Arena with new of Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID-19 test. Those next several minutes changed the way America experienced the coronavirus pandemic, puncturing our sense of invincibility from the novel virus and throwing first the sports world and then the rest of American life into a strange, surreal hiatus.

The Jazz’s All-Star center was, of course, a central figure in all of that. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year is now the subject of a special feature set to air on ESPN’s Sunday storytelling program, E60.

ESPN provided Salt City Hoops with the following description of the feature, which will air this weekend on the morning of All-Star Sunday.

Nearly a year to the day the NBA season was put on hold due to COVID, ESPN’s E60 presents Man in the Middle: The Rudy Gobert Story, debuting Sunday, March 7, at 11:30 a.m. ET on ESPN.

In addition to his prowess on the basketball court, Utah Jazz All-Star center Rudy Gobert is known for two things: being the first major American athlete to test positive for COVID-19, and for being the catalyst that brought the sports world to a halt.

But Gobert is more than a viral video, more than a 7’1 center, and more than most NBA fans know. E60 goes to France with Gobert to learn more of his background and traces his early basketball career. And when the NBA returned to action, Gobert was again in the middle of it all, as Lisa Salters reports for E60.

The feature will include interviews with Gobert, his mother Corinne, new Jazz owner Ryan Smith, and Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier, a close friend of Gobert’s. We’ll also hear from Fran Fraschilla, who scouted Gobert prior to his selection in the 2013 draft, as well the Deseret News’ Sarah Todd, who was around Gobert in the days leading up to his positive test and in the arena in OKC for the March 11 suspension of play.

The program will air on ESPN this Sunday, March 7 at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time, and will be available for on-demand viewing via the ESPN app shortly after. It will also re-air on ABC at 1:30 p.m. MT on March 20.

A trailer of the program can be found below.