Protocols stiffen after 3rd C’s game postponed

With four games called off this week already and more teams dealing with virus-related issues, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association enacted additional rules Tuesday in the hope of keeping the season going safely.

Among the new policies: for “at least the next two weeks,” the league and union said, players and team staff will have to remain at their residence when in their home markets and prohibited from leaving their hotels or having outside guests when on the road.

Many of the new rules are similar to what existed in the NBA’s restart bubble at Walt Disney World in Central Florida last year.

Orlando’s game in Boston on Wednesday was also called off, the fourth postponement since Sunday and the third involving the Celtics. Boston currently has eight players listed as unavailable because they are on the NBA’s health and safety protocols list — which means they either tested positive or may have been exposed to someone who is positive.

“We’re just going to follow what the NBA” says, Washington coach Scott Brooks said. “I mean, they’re the experts. They have all the medical, they have all the science, they have everything, all the data. ... I’m for whatever the NBA wants us to do.”

All that is permitted in home markets, for now, is “to attend team-related activities at the team facility or arena, exercise outside, or perform essential activities,” the league and union said. On the road, team activities and emergencies are the only allowable reasons for leaving.

“No one wants to see more restrictions imposed,” NBPA executive director Michele Roberts said in a message to AP. “No one also wants to see the infection rate increase if there are steps we can take to mitigate the risk. Our experts have concluded that these new procedures will add to our arsenal of weapons against the virus.

“It would be irresponsible and unacceptable to not employ new measures aimed at better promoting and protecting our players’ safety,” Roberts said.