Rockets: Ben McLemore gets updated on coronavirus conditions in China

Houston Rockets guard Ben McLemore hosted former teammates Ray McCallum and Jared Cunningham on his Instagram, where they gave an update on conditions in China.

On Monday evening, Ben McLemore took to his Instagram Live to talk to fans and catch up with some teammates from his Sacramento Kings days. The Houston Rockets guard spent the earlier part of his stream bringing in young fans to talk to him face-to-face and ask him questions.

When asked by a young fan to help with his game, McLemore offered assistance. “Of course, that’s what I’m here for,” started Ben. “DM me, I can send you some drills, workout stuff, some ball-handling that my trainers use with me. Just simple fundamental ball-handling.”

Another fan couldn’t quite handle the moment when meeting McLemore face-to-face, as Bleacher Report captured on their Twitter account. “You just made my day,” said McLemore to an excited young fan that was brought to tears.

In addition to reaching out to the kids, McLemore also caught up with former teammates Ray McCallum and Jared Cunningham, who are currently in China waiting for basketball to resume. McCallum and McLemore played for two seasons together in Sacramento while Cunningham played in eight games with them from 2013-14.

As the former NBA players headed to the gym, they joined Ben’s Instagram to catch up on each other’s lives. When asked by McLemore how things are going in China, McCallum replied, “China’s good. We’re good out here. They’re living their normal life. We can eat, we can go to practice.”

Both wearing masks, Cunningham and McCallum seemed optimistic about conditions improving in China but still had no idea when the season was planning to resume, if at all.

Ben McLemore caught up with former Kings teammates Ray McCallum and Jared Cunningham and asked about basketball resuming in China. pic.twitter.com/GCm3v3r8vn

— Space City Scoop (@SpaceCity_Scoop) April 7, 2020

Former NBA guard Jarden Cunningham was signed by the Shanghai Sharks just earlier this year while McCallum has been with them since November of last year.

While it’s discouraging that the Chinese Basketball Association still has no date set to resume play, the fact that their lives seem to be getting closer to normal is a good sign. McCallum also had this advice for his countrymen in the United States:

“Hey, everybody back home needs to be careful. They need to get masks, hand sanitizer. They don’t need to be moving around like that.”

While the NBA continues to look to China to see how they handle the situation, it was recently reported that the league is preparing for the possibility of canceling the season outright. Expectations seem to change on a daily basis, however, so the NBA doesn’t expect to make any decisions until May.