The game between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder scheduled for Wednesday night was postponed, the league announced.
The NBA said three Rockets players returned positive or unfinished tests according to the NBA program. In addition, four players are currently in quarantine under the contact tracking protocol.
Tonight’s game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center has been postponed in accordance with the league’s safety and health protocols. pic.twitter.com/Qn0hXlxCZr
– NBA (@NBA) December 23, 2020
The Rockets sent home three players Wednesday after their teammate, rookie Kenyon Martin Jr., returned a positive coronavirus test and had to be examined again to confirm, the sources added. on ESPN.
John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Martin were among the Rockets players gathered Tuesday night in a player’s apartment away from the team’s facilities to cut their hair.
Wall and Cousins tested negative for coronavirus Wednesday morning.
Sources assure ESPN that Martin was waiting for more test results to confirm the original positive.
Rockets rookie Jae’Sean Tate is also among the players who were sent home Wednesday.
The NBA’s new protocol on contact tracking gives the league the ability to make decisions about possible deadlines for return if players continue to give negative.
The Rockets already had a player, Ben McLemore, away from the team for a few days with coronavirus, sources said.
The league said Rockets star James Harden was unavailable for Wednesday’s game “due to a Health and Safety Protocol violation,” according to a video circulating in recent days.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Bobby Marks, Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon collaborated on this note.