Given teams with few COVID positive points in the NBA rankings, it’s no mystery why the Mavericks are below .500.

Did anyone else notice the strange coincidence? The unfortunate symmetry, well, at least from the Mavericks perspective?

On the same night they welcomed back three of their coronavirus-infested players, the Mavericks were handcuffed by Utah center Rudy Gobert, the NBA’s COVID-19 patient-zero.

It’s been ten hellish months since Gobert’s positive test on March 11 forced the NBA to abruptly interrupt the 2019-20 season, but unfortunately not COVID’s global devastation.

To date, there have been at least 145 positive coronavirus tests among the approximately 500 players in the NBA, although it is possible that some players contracted the virus twice.

What is indisputable is that the coincidence of COVID-19’s attacks made an uneven playing field among the 30 teams of the NBA. Better to be Utah, whose stars Gobert and Donovan Mitchell contracted the virus last year; as Dallas, whose roster has been completed over the past three weeks.

“We are not going to make excuses about COVID protocols,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said Thursday. “Things are there, but it’s just a period we have to go through as a team.”

As the Mavericks (8-10) learned during Wednesday night’s loss in Salt Lake City, there’s no quick antidote to working former COVID patients Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Richardson and Dwight Powell in the rotation.

If that was not humiliating enough to see Gobert go down on Wednesday with 29 points and 20 rebounds, guess what? The Mavericks get Dose II from Gobert and the NBA-best 14-4 Jazz in Vivint Arena on Friday night.

This two-game COVID convergence in Salt Lake City comes days after Michael Porter Jr., Denver, in his third outing of the ten-game miss due to the coronavirus, set Dallas on fire for 30 points.

Porter believes Denver’s virus scare is limited after Christmas. This comes after star center Nikola Jokic, if you can call it that, was lucky to contract the virus in June, giving him plenty of time to recover before this season.

“It seems like everyone’s weakness and best defense is the virus at this point,” Mavericks swinger Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “If it affects your team, show it. We are a perfect example of that. ”

Along with Richardson, Finney-Smith and Powell, the Mavericks lost Maxi Kleber to a positive COVID test three weeks ago (he might eventually return this weekend) and Jalen Brunson lost for four games due to contact detection and quarantine.

If we look at the NBA rankings, it’s not hard to pick teams that, like the Mavericks, have been hit the hardest by the coronavirus.

Reigning NBA finalist Miami set a 6-11 record in Thursday night’s home game against the Clippers, which was also the debut of COVID sniffer dogs at the entrances of AmericanAways Arena because the Heat had a limited number of fans for the first time. allowed this season.

Forwards Bam Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro contracted COVID last spring and summer. But it was the recent positive tests of Jimmy Butler and Avery Bradley and consequent contact detection that caused Miami’s rankings to decline and coach Erik Spoelstra to use 12 different starting line-ups.

Then there’s Washington, with an NBA worst record of 3-11 that would have been worse if it hadn’t been postponed six games because six Wizards players picked up COVID-19.

“It’s just an unfortunate set of circumstances,” Washington general manager Tommy Sheppard said in mid-January when the Wizards started just a 13-day series without games.

‘If you follow our path, we’re really going back to the time we played Chicago [two games in late December], almost every team we have played has a player tested positive. The next day, the next day, there are several players in some places. It was inevitable. ”

Wizards coach Scott Brooks said when his team returned to matches this week: “I just hope we never have to deal with it again.”

San Antonio became the 24th team to have at least one postponement this week, while Memphis was level with Washington for the most postponements.

In one sense, the Mavericks were perhaps lucky that they did not have a major outbreak. As of Friday, when Kleber misses his 10th game, the Mavericks will miss five joint 40 games due to the health and safety protocols.

But in another sense, the Mavericks were unlucky to still have enough players available to play games while they were very short, with only one postponement, Jan. 11 against New Orleans.

That was the day Powell learned of his positive COVID-19 test. Eventually he would go 18 days without playing a game.

“I’m thankful I’m fully recovered,” Powell said Thursday. “Of course I watched the games and watched some movie, but I just kept away from other people and stayed home and waited to get back with the guys.”

Although 145 positive coronavirus tests among 500 players are numerous, it is important to note that some of the positive tests were traced back to March last year, when Gobert and Mitchell were the first virus. And 48 of the positive cases occurred during the first Test round in early December, when players signed up for training camps.

It was on the first day of camp that Luka Doncic strictly predicted this season: ‘Some players may get corona, get sick and not be with the team for ten days. I think that’s going to be a big part: which team is not going to have positive people? ‘

Since the season began, at least 75 different players have been named in the league’s injury report for health and safety record.

And most teams are barely a quarter of the way in their 72 games.

The Mavericks were one of the most COVID-affected and infected teams, but they fully understand that this is just the reality of this season.

On the leaderboard, the star points are not placed by the teams, with most players losing the coronavirus. There is no separate virus section. No consolation banner or COVID-19 trophy will be handed out.

That’s one of the reasons Carlisle mocked Wednesday night when he was told it could take time for the Mavericks to find their offensive rhythm while reintegrating the long-missing teammates.

“You don’t need a rhythm to play defense,” Carlisle said. ‘And to have a strong disposition. And to communicate. And such things. ”

Another game awaits against the Jazz and NBA COVID-19 patient zero. The Mavericks have no time to feel sorry for themselves no matter how tilted the playing field is against them.

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.