NBA calls off 2 more games over virus-related concerns
The NBA called off two more games because of COVID-related and contact tracing issues on Monday, and the Miami Heat were preparing to be without as many as eight players — including All-Stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo — for several days because of possible exposure to the coronavirus.
Monday’s game in Dallas between the Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans was postponed by the league, as well as Tuesday’s matchup in Chicago between the Bulls and the Boston Celtics. The league’s general managers met Monday to discuss the virus situation, with involvement from the National Basketball Players Association. The NBA’s board of governors will meet Tuesday.
The latest postponements come one day after Miami’s game in Boston was called off because of contact-tracing issues within the Heat. The Celtics would have been without seven players for virus-related issues for that game. Miami’s Avery Bradley, who did not play in the NBA’s restart bubble last season out of concern about exposure to the virus, was also ruled out of that game because of the protocols.
Added to the Heat list following contact tracing: Butler, Adebayo, Goran Dragic, Moe Harkless, Udonis Haslem, Kendrick Nunn and KZ Okpala. That does not mean any tested positive, but that tracing showed they may have been exposed to a positive person — and that could sideline them for seven days or more.
Another three Heat play
ers are on the injury list, raising the question if they will have the eight required players to start games.
Miami was flying from Boston to Philadelphia on Monday night in advance of a game there Tuesday, but another flight was scheduled to send those who need to be quarantined home, said a person familiar with the situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because those details were not publicly released.
“Definitely been a unique start to the year,” Heat guard Duncan Robinson said Monday in an appearance on Reddit. “Been different challenges with all the protocols and new norms. I think the general sentiment is that everyone wants to play but also everyone wants to be safe first.”
Dallas — which was without starters Josh Richardson and Dorian Finney-Smith and backup Jalen Brunson on Saturday because of virus issues — did not have enough players cleared to play Monday because the contact-tracing process was still ongoing,
said a person with knowledge of that situation who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity because it had not been disclosed publicly.
Contact tracing within the NBA has gotten much more high-tech in recent days, with a new requirement that everyone within the travel parties wear an electronic device that tracks their proximity to one another. The data from those devices is part of the determination as to whether a player needs to quarantine because of possible exposure.
The two new postponements means four games so far have been called off due to virus-related matters. Philadelphia played at home against Denver on Saturday with seven players — eight were available — because of a combination of virus issues and injuries. The NBA also fined the 76ers $25,000 on Monday for not properly disclosing ahead of time that Ben Simmons would miss that game with an injury.
“The league is doing a very good job trying to adjust to the situation,” 76ers guard Isaiah Joe said.