Golden State will host fans for last nine home games
After more than a year without spectators at Chase Center, the Golden State Warriors will begin hosting fans for the team’s nine remaining regular-season home games beginning April 23 against the Denver Nuggets, the organization announced Thursday.
According to coronavirus guidelines announced by the California State Department of Public Health last week, Chase Center can accommodate up to 35% capacity. Every person seeking to enter the arena will be required to provide proof of a full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test administered within 48 hours prior to the game. Social distancing and maskwearing will be enforced in the arena.
Tickets will go on sale starting Wednesday. Those who purchase tickets more than seven days in advance of the game will be eligible to receive, at no cost, an athome Lucira Health molecular COVID-19 test to be self-administered within 48 hours of the game. The Warriors will become the first sports team to provide ticket-buyers with at-home tests.
Attending fans will then enroll in CLEAR’s Health Pass where they can securely link their test result and complete a health survey to produce a pass required to enter Chase Center.
Those who are fully vaccinated do not need to provide proof of a negative CO
VID-19 test unless seated within 30 feet of the court and will have the opportunity to purchase tickets in designated sections.
Food and beverage will be available and can be ordered via an app and picked up at select restaurants throughout the arena.
The Warriors last played with fans in attendance on March 10 against the LA Clippers. A day later, the NBA season was suspended when Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.
Since then, the organization has tried to bring fans back to Chase Center as early as the beginning of the season, but the Warriors’ plan to host more than 9,000 spectators was rejected by the local public health department as both indoor and outdoor sports were highly restricted in San Francisco.
After the April 23 matchup against the Nuggets, the Warriors will host the Sacramento Kings (April 25) and Dallas Mavericks (April 27) before ending the season on a sixgame
homestand from May 6-16.
The Warriors are the first indoor pro sports team in the Bay Area to announce a plan for fans to return. The Sharks are subject to the same state rules as the Warriors, but with SAP Center located in San Jose, they must negotiate with Santa Clara County to bring fans back. As for outdoor sports, the A’s allowed fans at Opening Night last week and the Giants and Earthquakesplantohostfansfor their home openers, both within the next nine days. GARY PAYTON II TO SIGN 10DAY CONTRACT >> The Warriors will sign guard Gary Payton II to a 10-day contract, league sources confirmed with the Bay Area News Group.
The deal, first reported by The Athletic, will satisfy Golden State’s obligation to carry a minimum of 14 players during the regular season, although teams can drop to 13 players for up to two weeks. After trading Brad Wanamaker and Marquese Chriss at the trade deadline, the Warriors had to sign a player by the end of the day Thursday.
Golden State hopes that Payton will be able to participate in Thursday’s practice and be available as soon as tonight’s game against the Washington Wizards at Chase Center.
Payton, 28, is the son of Hall of Fame point guard Gary Payton. After playing two years at Oregon State from 2014-16, Payton went undrafted in 2016 and signed with the Houston Rockets’ G League affiliate. Overthelastfouryears,he bounced between G League stints and NBA tryouts.
In 13 games with the Toronto Raptors’ G League affiliate this season, Payton averaged 10.8 points on 55.5% shooting, 5.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 steals in 21.8 minutes per game and was named the G League’s defensive player of the year. Payton’s nickname is “The Mitten,” a nod to his father’s “The Glove” moniker.
At 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, Payton is a defensiveminded point guard with a knack for deflecting passes, but shooting struggles have limited his career. In 61 NBA games with the Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers, Payton made 91 of 220 total shot attempts (41.4%), including 21 of 82 (25.6%) from beyond the arc.
Over the next 10 days, Payton will be eligible to play in six games until his contract expires on April 17. At that point, the Warriors are able to sign him to a second 10-day contract.