More games off due to COVID- 19
The NBA called off two more games because of COVID- related and contact tracing issues onMonday, and the Heat were preparing to be without as many as eight players — including All- Stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo — for severaldays because of possible exposure to the coronavirus.
Monday’s game inDallas between the Mavericks and the Pelicans was postponed by the league, as well as Tuesday’s matchup in Chicago between the Bulls and Celtics. The league’s general managers met Monday to discuss the virus situation, with involvement from theNational Basketball Players Association. The NBA’s board of governors will meetTuesday.
The latest postponements come one day after the Heat’s game against the Celtics in Boston was called off because of contact- tracing issues within theHeat. The Celtics would have been without seven players for virus- related issues for thatgame. TheHeat’sAveryBradley, who didn’t playintheNBA’s restart bubble last season out of concern about exposure to the virus, was also ruled out of thatgame because of the protocols.
AddedtotheHeat list followingcontact tracing: Butler, Adebayo, Goran Dragic, Moe Harkless, Udonis Haslem, Kendrick Nunn and KZ Okpala. That doesn’t meanany tested positive, but that tracing showedtheymayhavebeen exposed to a positive person— andthat could sideline them for seven days or more.
Another threeHeat players are on the injury list, raising thequestion if theywill have the eight required to start games.
The Heat were flying from Boston to PhiladelphiaonMondaynight inadvance of a game there Tuesday, but another flight was scheduled to send those who need to be quarantined home.
“Definitely been a unique start to the year,” Heat guard DuncanRobinson said MondayonReddit.“Beendifferent challenges with all the protocols and new norms. I think the general sentiment is that everyone wants to play but also everyonewants to be safe first.”
TheMavericks — who were without starters Josh Richardson and Dorian Finney- Smith and backup Jalen Brunson on Saturday because of virus issues — didn’t have enough players cleared to playMonday because thecontact- tracing processwas still ongoing.
Contact tracing within the NBA has gotten much more high- tech in recent days, with anewrequirementthat everyone within the travel parties wear an electronic device that tracks their proximity tooneanother. Thedata fromthose devices is part of the determination as to whether a player needs to quarantine because of possible exposure.
The two new postponements means fourgamesso farhavebeencalledoffdue to virus- related matters. The76ers played athomeagainst theNuggetsonSaturday 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 that Ben Simmons would miss that game with an injury.
The first game postponed this season was the Dec. 23 matchup between the Thunder and Rockets. The NBA said Sunday night that the league anticipated therewouldbe issuesandhasnoplans to pause the season because of the current issues some teams are facing.
“It is an awful world right now,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “We’re all facing this, whetheryou’re anNBAteamplayer, organization, frontofficeor you’resomebody that doesn’t work in the industry. It’s an awful world, a scary world. we’re losing lives every single day in big numbers. So, I think the league’s doing the bestwe can. I thinkwe’re trying our best toget throughthe season, but I think we have to be ready for everything and I thinkwe’re all concerned.”