Spurs have 4 players positive, Atlanta has All-Star concerns

The San Antonio Spurs are dealing with a coronavirus outbreak among four players, the NBA said Tuesday, meaning the Spurs will not play until the middle of next week at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms — whose city was picked to play host to the NBA All-Star Game and skills competitions on March 7 — raised major concerns about the notion of fans coming to the city for the events. “People should not travel to Atlanta to party,” she said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The NBA on Tuesday postponed five more games: the next three for the Spurs — at Cleveland on Wednesday, at New York on Saturday and at Indiana on Monday — as well as the next two for the Charlotte Hornets while contact tracing is completed.

The Hornets were scheduled to play host to Chicago on Wednesday and Denver on Friday. Their games have been halted because they were the last team to play the Spurs, losing to them on Sunday. The league is reviewing data to see if any Hornets may have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19, a process that takes time.

Charlotte’s next possible game is now Saturday at home against Golden State, in what would be Warriors guard Stephen Curry’s annual return to North Carolina, where he grew up. San Antonio’s next possible game is Feb. 24 at Oklahoma City, meaning the Spurs will have more than a week between contests — joining Washington and Memphis as teams to endure such a situation this season.

The postponements announced Tuesday push the total of games that have been moved back this season because of positive tests or contact tracing issues to 29, including the Spurs’ game at Detroit that was to have been played Tuesday night. The

NBA called that game off on Monday.

Also postponed: Detroit at Dallas, scheduled for Wednesday, now off because of the severe winter weather that has hit Texas — where more than 4 million homes and businesses were without power Tuesday in subfreezing temperatures.

Denver will now play at Cleveland on Friday, the NBA said. That game, originally targeted for the second half of the season, is replacing the postponed Nuggets-Hornets game on the schedule. The NBA has said it will shuffle some games, when possible, to accommodate the need to reschedule games in the second half of the season.