The NBA is shaking up the second postponement of the coronavirus-related game of the season as the Philadelphia 76ers await the league’s ruling on filing a multi-player contact tracking report that shared the proximity of guard Seth Curry , sources told ESPN.
The Sixers ’list of seven players enrolled in the safety and health protocol based on a recent contact with Curry, who tested positive for coronavirus, could leave them with less than eight players required in the league to start the 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. against the Denver Nuggets in Philadelphia.
At the moment, the Sixers have up to six players available: star striker Ben Simmons, centers Dwight Howard and Tony Bradley, rookies Tyrese Maxey and Isaiah Joe and Dakota Mathias.
The Sixers are awaiting the league’s assessment of the circumstances surrounding the individual cases of these seven players to find out if it is possible that at least two of them could be cleaned up on Saturday to save a postponement. NBA contact tracking guidelines could determine different distances for different players, including isolation periods from zero to seven days.
After it was learned that Curry had returned a positive test of COVID-19 at the start of the Sixers ’loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night in New York, Curry was removed from the ground and isolated, the sources.
The 76ers had to wait for Friday’s test results at the team’s hotel in lower Manhattan before finally boarding a series of separate buses around 11 p.m. ET on Friday. to return to Philadelphia, sources said.
The Nuggets flew to Philadelphia on Friday without talented young striker Michael Porter Jr., who remains out of safety and health protocols for an indefinite period of time, sources said.
The Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder had an opening night game postponed when the Rockets had only seven eligible players.