A security guard who protected DeMarcus Cousins, Draymond Green and Rajon Rondo has died from the coronavirus.

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports:

Noordin Said, a beloved security official to NBA players and numerous musical artists, died Tuesday in New York after contracting COVID-19, his daughter confirmed to Yahoo Sports.

“I was heartbroken,” Cousins told Yahoo Sports of hearing the news of his friend’s passing. “It sucks, especially losing a guy like him. He’s an A-1, first-class-type dude. Anybody he’s ever come in contact with, all you heard was good reviews. He’s just a good, genuine dude. He took his job seriously, did it with class, did it with the best of his abilities, super professional, and the family man in him would give you advice on the daily. He was an OG at the same time. This hurts. It was a bad situation. There wasn’t much you could do. All you could do was sit from afar and hope and pray for the best. And that’s what we did.”

This is obviously heartbreaking for Said’s family and friends. Condolences to them.

It’s also yet another warning to the NBA as the league considers resuming play in a centralized location amid the ongoing pandemic.

Said didn’t work for teams. Cousins, Green and Rondo hired him on their own. If teams congregate in Las Vegas to finish the season, some players will probably want personal security. The number of people – and potential coronavirus connection points – who’d be involved in a restarted season is huge.

Security guard for DeMarcus Cousins, Draymond Green and Rajon Rondo dies of coronavirus originally appeared on NBCSports.com