COVID causes postponement
Golden State will skip Phoenix; Suns don’t have enough players
The Warriors’ matchup against the Suns in Phoenix Friday has been postponed because the Suns don’t have enough available players required to participate in the game.
The league announced contract tracing will prevent Phoenix from having eight players available after the Suns were exposed to Washington Wizards players who tested positive for COVID-19 during a game on Monday.
Both the Suns and Wizards had games previously scheduled for Wednesday and Friday postponed, increasing the number of games postponed due to the pandemic this season to nine, and eight since Sunday.
Golden State departed San Francisco for a three-game trip Wednesday that was initially slated to include stops in Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles. The Warriors will have three days off after playing the Nuggets Thursday. The now two-game trip concludes with Monday’s game against the Lakers.
The 76ers, Hawks, Heat, Suns and Wizards have had their rosters significantly depleted in recent days because of players entered into the league’s health and safety protocol — which can be administered because of a positive coronavirus test or contact tracing.
Though the Warriors have not been as impacted as some other teams, forward Eric Paschall was held out of Tuesday’s loss to the Pacers with a positive result on a coronavirus test. Paschall on Wednesday cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols after a one-day quarantine and negative tests revealed the initial test was a false positive.
“Not every system is perfect, but again, it happened and it was disappointing that I couldn’t play yesterday,” Paschall said Wednesday. “I’m back and happy I can get on the flight tonight.”
Postponed games are expected to be rescheduled in the second half of the season. Anticipating interruptions, the NBA so far has released only the first part of the 2020-21 schedule. Last month, the league announced the second half will also include games “that can reasonably be added to the second half.”
The league announced Wednesday that of the 497 players tested for COVID-19 since Jan. 6, 16 new players have confirmed positive tests.
These latest positive tests and postponements prompted the league on Tuesday to tighten restrictions on players and teams.