The NBA is faltering on the postponement of the second coronavirus-related game of the season as the Philadelphia 76ers await the league’s ruling on the submission of a contact tracking report from several players who shared proximity to guard Seth Curry, sources told ESPN .
The list of seven players of the Sixers who have been placed in the health and safety protocol based on recent contact with Curry – who tested positive for the coronavirus – could leave them short of the league-mandated eight players needed to start the Saturday 3:00 PM ET contest. against the Denver Nuggets in Philadelphia.
For now, there are only six players left for the Sixers: All-Star forward Ben Simmons, centers Dwight Howard and Tony Bradley, rookie guards Tyrese Maxey and Isaiah Joe, and guard Dakota Mathias.
The Sixers await the league’s evaluation of the circumstances surrounding those seven players’ individual cases to find out if it’s possible at least two of them could be acquitted on Saturday to save a reprieve. The NBA’s Contact Tracking Guidelines could determine different clearances for different players, including isolation periods from zero to seven days.
After learning that Curry returned a positive test for COVID-19 at the start of the Sixers’ loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night in New York, Curry was pushed off the floor and into isolation, sources said.
The 76ers had to await the results of the Friday tests at the team’s hotel in Lower Manhattan before finally boarding a series of individual buses for the ride back to Philadelphia around 11 p.m. ET on Friday, sources said.
The Nuggets flew to Philadelphia on Friday without the talented young attacker Michael Porter Jr., who is still indefinitely sidelined under health and safety protocols, sources said.
The Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder had delayed an opening night game when the Rockets had only seven eligible players.