Mavs’ Doncic in protocols; crisis builds
The list of players dealing with the NBA’s health and safety protocols climbed toward 100 on Wednesday, as uncertainty continued to mount about the availability of some of the league’s biggest names for the Christmas quintupleheader.
Another two games were called off, pushing the total virus-related postponements so far this season to nine. And Dallas star Luka Doncic was added to the protocols list, a strong indicator that he may not be able to play when the Mavericks face Utah as part of the NBA’s five-game Christmas lineup.
Doncic has been ruled out of Thursday’s Dallas-Milwaukee game, along with five other Mavericks for health and safety reasons — including Trey Burke, who revealed earlier this season that he is unvaccinated.
“It’s unpredictable, right? You just don’t know,” Los Angeles Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony said. “What we’re dealing with, it’s bigger than basketball. It’s bigger than that.”
Wednesday’s Toronto at Chicago game was postponed, as was Thursday’s Brooklyn at Portland game. The NBA said neither the Raptors nor the Nets have enough eligible players; by league rule, teams must have at least eight healthy players in uniform for a game to go forward.
Through Wednesday evening, based on team injury reports or similar disclosures, there were 95 players from 22 teams dealing with a virusrelated issue. It is important to note that players can enter and exit that list quickly in some cases, some teams do not release updated numbers except when mandated by league rule, and not everyone on the list has tested positive for the coronavirus.
“This seems like it’s changing by the hour,” Atlanta coach Nate McMillan said.
The Nets have seen each of their past three games postponed — and that means the earliest they would play again is Saturday, when they’re scheduled to visit the Lakers in the fourth game on the Christmas slate.
“You just don’t know what’s going to happen, who it’s going to affect, how it’s going to affect somebody, the amount of time you will be out due to your health, what you’re feeling, the symptoms,” Anthony said. “And then on the other hand, some people don’t have symptoms. You don’t know what to do right now. I think that’s the frustrating part for everybody.”
The Nets have what is believed to be a league-high 10 players in the health and safety protocols, a list that includes Kevin Durant, James
Harden and — even though he has yet to play this season — Kyrie Irving.
The 10 teams scheduled to play on Christmas — the games are Atlanta at New York, Boston at Milwaukee, the Warriors at Phoenix, the Nets at the Lakers and the Mavericks at Utah — had a combined 44 players in the protocols as of early Wednesday evening.
“Obviously, teams around the league are really severely getting impacted and games are getting postponed,” Miami guard Duncan Robinson said. “It’s kind of unsurprising, in that this is the chaos that we’ve kind of come to expect over this last, whatever it’s been, year-and-a-half or something like that.”
Atlanta listed six players as being in the protocols Wednesday, including guard Trae Young. Milwaukee’s Giannis
Antetokounmpo, the reigning NBA Finals MVP, also remained listed as out for the Bucks’ game on Thursday at Dallas, which would suggest there’s no guarantee he can play on Christmas either.
Teams are being allowed to sign players to replace those sidelined by positive tests.
Among those signed: Joe Johnson, who was still 19 when drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2001 and now, as a 40-year-old, is a member of the Celtics once again.
Briefly: Knicks guard Derrick Rose had surgery on his right ankle and could miss two months. Already shorthanded with six players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the Knicks have now lost the former league MVP whose arrival jump-started their run to the playoffs last season.
Wednesday’s games
Celtics 111, Cavaliers 101: Jaylen Brown scored 34 points and host Boston beat Cleveland to end the Cavaliers’ winning streak at six.
Magic 104, Hawks 98: Franz Wagner scored 25 points, Robin Lopez had 10 points and a career-high 11 assists and visiting Orlando beat Atlanta.
Thunder 108, Nuggets 94: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 27 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists to help host Oklahoma City beat Denver.
Bucks 126, Rockets 106:
Jrue Holiday scored 24 points, Khris Middleton added 23 and host Milwaukee triumphed.
Clippers 105, Kings 89: Eric Bledsoe had 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead visiting Sacramento.