Utah Jazz NBA star Rudy Gobert has apologised to "the people that I may have endangered" for his behavior before testing positive for coronavirus.

On Thursday (NZ time), Gobert was the first NBA player diagnosed with COVID-19, just before the Jazz were about to tip off against the Oklahoma City Thunder, which led to the league shutting down.

If the game had proceeded as planned, with Gobert playing, he would have been closely marked by Kiwi centre Steven Adams.

Since then Utah teammate Donavan Mitchell has also tested positive.

Earlier this week, Gobert appeared to joke about the coronavirus, after an interview session with reporters. He made a point of touching all their tape recorders and microphones on his way to the team's shootaround.