The Sixers are in quarantine in New York after a positive COVID test for one of their players, a team official confirmed to PhillyVoice on Thursday night. Seth Curry, who was ruled out of Thursday’s game after being considered questionable with an ankle injury, was the player who tested positive. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report on Curry’s positive test.
According to sources who spoke to PhillyVoice on condition of anonymity, Curry was tested on Thursday morning according to league protocols, but the Sixers had no impression he was positive on COVID-19 in the match. As a result, Curry was sitting in street clothes on the bench in Philadelphia during the first quarter, only leaving the track after test results were communicated to the team. Once the results were known, Curry isolated himself from the team.
In first-quarter TNT footage reviewed by PhillyVoice, Curry appears to be wearing a mask during his time on the bench. However, he was in close contact with several members of the Sixers ’roster, including Dwight Howard and Joel Embiid, the latter sitting next to Curry and having a conversation with him at the end of the first quarter.
Sorry for the blurry images here, but looking back at the first quarter images tonight.
Seth Curry was the only player on the front row to start the game. As time went on, other guys (including Embiid who was next to him unmasked) were much closer. pic.twitter.com/AZqYWUOpYs
– Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) January 8, 2021
The Sixers will rehearse in the morning as they work through contact tracking protocols before leaving New York, according to sources, and then work with the NBA to find out the next steps. It is not immediately clear how the team and the league will progress.
With Curry’s positive test as a surprise, his bet on the previous game against the Washington Wizards is a possible cause for concern about the spread of the virus. Philadelphia is back playing Saturday in a home game against the Denver Nuggets, and no information is available at this time on whether the league could be forced to change its schedule or postpone any Sixers game in the immediate future. On the other side of the coin, Joe Vardon informs the Brooklyn Nets continue to fly to Memphis for the second half of their consecutive back on Friday night.
A Sixers player has already made it clear that he will take his own steps to protect his loved ones. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported Thursday night that Joel Embiid plans to quarantine his family, including his three-month-old son, until he can be sure he doesn’t have the virus.
This story is developing …
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