Moses Wright on his draft decision, positive COVID-19 test

But in an interview in which he also detailed the roller-coaster week he experienced when he tested positive for COVID-19 days before the NCAA Tournament, Wright showed that he’s excited about the prospects of the next chapter of his career.

“Just seeing that it’s right in front of you is a great thing,” he said.

Wright said he reached his decision to leave Tech in consultation with his family and coach Josh Pastner.

“We basically came to the conclusion that I should try the NBA draft out,” Wright said. “And then coach Pastner told me that, whenever the deadline is, if I feel like I’m not placed well in the NBA draft, I could always come back. It was just me just making that decision to head into the NBA draft and everything.”

Wright said he made the decision after a meeting with Pastner a couple of weeks after the end of the season. Asked if there was any significance in the timing of an Instagram post he made last week that read “Farewell GT,” Wright replied, “No, I just did it,” and laughed.

Wright said that he had not really thought about the parameters under which he’d return, such as not getting invited to the NBA draft combine. Wright, and all early-entry candidates, will have to decide whether to stay in the draft or return to college by July 7, which is 10 days after the end of the combine.

“I’m taking it a day at a time, workout by workout,” he said.

Wright, who has not signed with an agent, said he has left matters such as communicating with NBA teams about his draft candidacy to his mother, Calla, and brother, Robert. He did acknowledge that he believed that this past season – when he finished in the top six in the ACC in scoring, rebounds, field-goal percentage, steals, blocked shots, offensive rebounds and minutes – was a sufficient showcase.

“I thought I did everything I could to put myself in good position for the draft,” Wright said.

Not to be focused on such matters is not unusual for Wright, Pastner said.

“I think Moses is a guy that just takes it one day at a time,” Pastner said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. That’s what makes him good.”

ESPN rates him as the No. 87 draft prospect, although it is far from unheard of for players’ draft stock to rise after performing at the NBA draft combine and in team workouts. On Wednesday, Pastner repeated his assertion that Wright will be drafted, saying he was “100%” confident” that it would happen.

“They’re excited about him,” Pastner said of NBA scouts. “They love his upside, they love what he’s done here, how he’s gotten better and what he’s done this past season, how multi-dimensional he is. People are excited about him.”

Wright has been working out in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C., at the Garner Road Basketball Club, where he learned the game as a high schooler. He has been focused on his shooting and conditioning.

“Just training with the people that I feel like know me, that were there before I got to college, that took a chance on me,” he said.

Regarding the circumstances that led to him being unable to play in Tech’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010, Wright said that he tested positive for COVID-19 following the Yellow Jackets’ win over Florida State in the ACC championship game in Greensboro, N.C., on March 13.

The following day, when Tech was to leave for Indianapolis, Wright came up negative on four consecutive tests, he said. Seemingly – or at least potentially – in the clear, Wright flew to Indianapolis on a separate private flight apart from the team, along with senior associate athletic director and chief medical officer Dr. Angelo Galante. Wright said he took another test upon arriving in Indianapolis.

The tests were taken at the direction of the NCAA and local public health departments.

On March 15, the day after Tech arrived in Indianapolis, Wright tested again as part of the NCAA’s daily-testing protocol for the tournament. By that point, Wright believed he hadn’t been infected.

“I wasn’t feeling any symptoms or anything,” he said.

However, he tested positive, was declared out and was quarantined for the rest of the week at the team hotel, returning to Atlanta by car the day after the Jackets lost to Loyola Chicago in their first-round matchup March 19. Asked if he thought it could have been a false positive, Wright said he didn’t know.

“If it was a false positive, it’s way too late to do anything about it now,” Wright said.

Credit: Gerry Broome

Credit: Gerry Broome

Speaking Wednesday, Pastner said that Tech “explored every option possible” to determine if indeed it was a false positive and enable Wright to be cleared, but was unsuccessful.

“I was kind of upset after the positive test,” Wright said. “That was the one that hurt the most. I wasn’t that upset until we ended up losing to Loyola. Because I was like, if I didn’t have COVID, it would probably be a whole different outcome.”

Being quarantined at the hotel, physically cut off from the rest of the Tech travel party, he said, “was stressful, boring.” He was talking with teammates, coaches, family and friends by phone, but didn’t have much else to do. He entertained himself with the video-game system that he brought. He did push-ups and sit-ups to stay in shape.

When Tech played Loyola, Wright was yelling and screaming at the television.

“I was a crazy Tech fan at that point, reacting to every little thing,” Wright said. “But it was a good game.”

Wright said he did not know that teammate Jose Alvarado would wear Wright’s No. 5 jersey in his honor against Loyola.

“I thought it was cool,” Wright said. “I was laughing at it. I was like, I need to see a dunk since he’s wearing 5.”

Wright will receive his business degree Saturday. It may – or may not – be a last act as a Tech student. Either way, it’s been a remarkable four-year run for Wright, who arrived with little recruiting fanfare, but became an all-time Jackets great.

“A lot of people always had my back through everything,” Wright said. “They always pushed me to be the best I could be.”