As the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus continues to rise in the United States, so does the number of players in the NBA who have received positive diagnoses.

Seven teams have reported having players who have tested positive for the virus, with Kevin Durant and Marcus Smart among those who revealed their results this week.

The question has been raised about why, with a national shortage of testing kits, so many teams have been able to obtain so many of them.

For example, after receiving Rudy Gobert’s positive test result, the Utah Jazz used 58 kits to test players and staff, which was more than half of Oklahoma’s daily testing capacity according to the New York Daily News.

However, the Oklahoma City Thunder decided to go a different route.

The team announced on Wednesday that everyone in the franchise who had been tested had received negative results and that the organization had taken an “alternative path” for testing players and staff due to the “stress on the state of Oklahoma’s medical system”.

While the Thunder have no come directly under fire, teams like the Brooklyn Nets have been criticized for testing asymptomatic players.

The Nets, who also utilized private testing, pointed to the need to test asymptomatic players to help “being to contain the virus and save lives”.

According to USA Today, NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement:

“Public health authorities and team doctors have been concerned that, given NBA players’ direct contact with each other and close interactions with the general public, in addition to their frequent travel, they could accelerate the spread of the virus. Following two players testing positive last week, others were tested and five additional players tested positive. “Hopefully, by these players choosing to make their test results public, they have drawn attention to the critical need for young people to follow CDC recommendations in order to protect others, particularly those with underlying health conditions and the elderly.”

The NBA is in the midst of a league-wide shutdown, which went into effect last week. On March 19, Adam Silver made the decision to close all practice facilities to players and staff as of Friday.