Boston Celtics’ veteran guard Marcus Smart announced earlier this week that he is clear of COVID-19, the coronavirus, and also announced that he plans to donate blood so that it can be studied in the hopes of finding necessary treatment to combat the global pandemic.
Smart, 26, tested positive for the coronavirus two weeks ago, and says that he is one of the NBA players who have opted into the study.
Additionally, the league office has reportedly reached out to team physicians over the weekend in an effort to encourage players who have since recovered from the virus to consider participating in the experimental treatment, according to ABC News (via ESPN).
Michael Joyner, an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic, says that at least four NBA players who have recovered from the infection plan to donate their blood for the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project, the experimental program.
Joyner pointed out the professional athletes are particularly valuable plasma donors, and vital to the program.
“These are big men with blood volumes, and as a result [they] have a lot of plasma volume,” Joyner said. “Frequently people who are physically trained also have an increase in their plasma volume from what you would expect from them just being regular-sized guys.”
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