The NBA has pulled in the second COVID-related game postponement of the season, as the Philadelphia 76ers await the League’s ruling on submitting a multi-player contact tracking report who shared proximity with point guard Seth Curry, sources said. to ESPN.
The list of seven players of the Sixers who have been placed on the health and safety protocol based on recent close contact with Curry, who tested positive for the coronavirus, could do them short of the eight players the League needs to compete. starting from Saturday. 3 p.m. against the Denver Nuggets in Philadelphia.
For now, the Sixers have six players available: All-Star forward Ben Simmons, centers Dwight Howard and Tony Bradley, rookie guards Tyrese Maxey and Isaiah Joe, and security guard Dakota Mathias.
The Sixers await the League’s assessment of the circumstances surrounding those seven players’ individual cases to find out if it is possible that at least two of them could be released on Saturday to avoid a postponement of the game.
The NBA’s Contact Tracing Guidelines can determine different clearances for different players, including isolation periods from zero to seven days.
After it was found that Curry tested positive for COVID-19 at the start of the Sixers’ loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night in New York, Curry was taken off the floor and isolated, sources said. .
The 76ers had to wait for Friday’s test results at the team’s hotel in Lower Manhattan before finally boarding a series of individual buses around 11 p.m. Friday to return to Philadelphia, sources said.
The Nuggets flew to Philadelphia on Friday without the talented young attacker Michael Porter Jr., who will remain outside of health and safety protocols indefinitely. The Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder had delayed an opening night game when the Rockets had only seven eligible players.