A day after first suspending a new season game for the coronavirus, the NBA reported Thursday that two players tested positive for covid-19 in tests applied to teams over the past week.
Since December 16, 558 players have been tested, two of whom tested positive, the league said in a statement not detailing the identities of the affected players or their team.
“Anyone who has had a confirmed positive result will be isolated until they are allowed to leave the isolation according to the rules set by the NBA and the Players Association,” the text concluded.
Less than 24 hours after the start of the new season, the NBA on Wednesday postponed the game between Houston and Oklahoma City as a precautionary measure for possible coronavirus infections in the Rockets.
The Texan team was unable to present the minimum of eight players available for the game after three of its members tested positive or an inconclusive result in their tests and at least four were quarantined for prevention, the NBA reported Wednesday. .
The league also fined $ 50,000 Rockets star James Harden for violating health and safety protocols by attending a private party Monday in an indoor space.
Harden, who maintains a pulse with the Rockets to be transferred to another team, could be available for Houston’s next game Saturday against the Portland Trail Blazers as long as he continues to give a negative result in the covid-19 tests, he reported on Thursday ESPN.
According to the network, the escort, the NBA’s top scorer for the past three seasons, overcame the coronavirus before playing the past playoffs at the Disney World (Orlando) “bubble” headquarters, a circumstance that did not exempts from complying with current anti-virus protocols.
The suspension of the game reflects the challenges that the NBA will face during this campaign in which, for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, the competition will take place on the tracks of the teams.