LeBron James returned to the court on Friday after NBA COVID-19 protocols kept him isolated at home for a positive test — and he had something to say about it.
The league said Thursday that James is not positive for COVID-19 despite a series of tests that produced conflicting results earlier this week. Additional testing cleared James to play when the Lakers hosted the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.
In a post-game interview aired on ESPN, he said he’s “confused,” “frustrated,” and “angry” about the way the NBA handled it.
“I never, ever felt sick at all,” James said in the interview. “I know you can be asymptomatic but if what I had was a positive COVID test then what are we doing, what are we talking about? I thought it was handled very poorly but it all came to light just taking the test and being able to get cleared.”
James got an initial positive test from a sample collected on Monday. The sample was retested twice, producing one positive and one negative result. James underwent additional testing Tuesday, but those tests returned one negative result and one clinically inconclusive result, according to the league.
“Usually when you have a positive test, they’ll test you right away to make sure,” James also said during the interview. “There was not a follow-up test after my positive test. It was straight to isolation and you’ve been put into protocol. That’s the part that kind of angered me.”
Earlier in the week, James tweeted out that “something is REAL” fishy when he got the news he was ruled out of Tuesday’s game against the Sacramento Kings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.