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Tim BontempsESPN
A day after the end of the 2020-21 regular season, the NBA postponed its first game. On Wednesday afternoon, the NBA announced that the clash between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder scheduled for 8 p.m. ET had been postponed because the Rockets did not have eight players available.
This news only highlights the countless challenges the league faces in trying to complete its season outside the confines of a bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, where the NBA finished the 2020 playoffs. .
As the NFL, MLB, and MLS have already shown, trying to get a season out of a bubble involves all sorts of complications. That’s what we know and don’t know about the postponed game, the last one with James Harden and the one that comes to play for both the Rockets and the rest of the NBA.
What’s going on in Houston?
The Rockets, according to reports from ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and Adrian Wojnarowski, deal with two separate coronavirus-related problems.
After a maskless video of Harden appearing on social media and going out to a club, the NBA began investigating whether Harden violated league security protocols by attending an unapproved indoor event at some point during the week. past. The Rockets also had three player-back tests that were positive or inconclusive and had to add four other players to the league’s contact tracking program, including former All-Stars DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall. as well as rookie Kenyon Martin Jr., who was one of the players with conflicting COVID-19 test scores. Wall, Cousins and Martin were among the Rockets players gathered Tuesday evening in a player’s apartment, away from the team’s facility, cutting their hair.
The combination of the two events left Houston with less than eight players available, forcing the postponement of the Rockets ’start to the season against the Thunder.
When will the match against the Thunder be composed?
The league has not announced a date to play the game, but has incorporated flexibility into its schedule to address this scenario. By releasing only games that will be played through March 4, the NBA has three rescheduling options: before the mid-season break from March 5-10; during this rest; or in the second half of the season, for which the schedule will not be announced until February.
According to ESPN’s Royce Young, the Thunder will return to Oklahoma City on Wednesday. They plan to leave Oklahoma City on Friday afternoon to fly to Charlotte for what will be their season opener on Saturday.
What is the league investigating regarding Harden?
The league has sanctioned specific restaurants in every NBA city in which players, coaches and staff who are part of each team’s travel party can participate. The protocol prohibits those people from going to bars, lounges or clubs and participating in social gatherings of more than 15 people. There are also stricter and more evolving league mandates in certain markets, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, that prohibit teams from traveling beyond the hotel or arena.
In the images of Harden circulating on social media, he was not wearing a mask at the club. The NBA considered Harden unavailable due to violations of safety and health protocols, and fined him $ 50,000.
How does the contact tracking protocol work?
The league has been intentionally given its ability to search for contacts in order to be flexible in how it handles each individual situation.
The backbone of the NBA’s plan is its rigorous testing procedures. Players are now tested twice a day, every day, in the hope that it will allow the league to catch any instance of the virus as soon as possible, reducing the need to isolate players or waste time.
However, situations like the one reported are more complicated, where players meet in an environment away from a practice or game and there is a positive test case. Earlier this month, for example, Utah jazz guard Mike Conley had to be quarantined for a week after coming into contact with someone close to his family who fell out. of the league testing program.
What are the playback return protocols?
For players who have tested positive for COVID-19, there are two possible paths to return: a time-based resolution and a test-based resolution.
According to the time-based resolution, the infected person must have passed at least ten days from the date of the first positive test or the onset of any symptoms, if any; it has been at least 24 hours since the fever went away without having to take any medication; and improved other symptoms. The protocols specifically state that loss of taste or smell alone is not expected to prevent someone from leaving the isolation.
According to the evidence-based resolution, the person must return at least two consecutive negative PCR tests of samples taken with a minimum separation of 24 hours.
In any case, any player who is determined to have a new positive case from the tests will not be allowed to participate in any training for at least 10 days from the date of the positive test or resolution of symptoms, if any. .
Once a player has waited this minimum of 10 days, he must spend two days working himself, without interacting with anyone or participating in team activities, and must perform cardiac screening.
Any player who has had a severe case of COVID-19, or who has been hospitalized at any time, must be observed for at least three full days before being allowed to play again.
What are the possible punishments for a breach of security protocols?
The NBA has a safety and health protocols section that describes discipline and sanctions for players and team personnel.
While no specific sanctions are mentioned, punishments for players who violate these league rules include possible warnings, fines or suspensions. Teams that fail to do so could also face the adjustment or loss of draft picks, as well as the confiscation of the game.
Players who violated bubble protocols, such as Lou Williams of Los Clippers, and who were forced to lose games as a result of losing pay for every game lost. In this case, Harden would lose $ 284,517 (1/145 of his salary) for not providing services in violation of the protocols.
The gray area of this interpretation is that the Rockets-Thunder game was postponed and not canceled, so for technical purposes Harden has not lost a game yet.
Will this affect the commercial value of Harden?
When asked if Harden’s behavior would be a red flag in the former MVP’s trade, team executives told ESPN they thought he was selfish and reckless, but that they would not prevent a deal.
The teams have already done their homework when it comes to Harden, both on and off the court. An executive told ESPN that the team had hired a private investigator to do a thorough background check, treating the process of gathering information about him as if it were a prospective project.
If a team is comfortable acquiring Harden, the biggest challenge would be to raise enough salary (at least $ 33 million) to make a trade legal without removing its existing list.
Teams are in the early stages of evaluating their lists and are unwilling to make a hasty judgment at this time. That could change if the Rockets lower their selling price to Harden, who is currently said to be a mix of young players with star potential and significant draft assets.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks contributed to this report.