The NBA is heading for the second postponement of the season related to coronavirus, as the Philadelphia 76ers await the league’s decision to send a follow-up report to several players who shared the approach to guard Seth Curry, sources told ESPN .
The list of six players included in the health and safety protocol based on a recent close contact with Curry – who tested positive for coronavirus – could leave them out of the eight players forced to start the game on Saturday at 15:00. against the Denver Nuggets of Philadelphia.
So far, the Sixers have dropped to six available players: All-Star striker Ben Simmons, centers Dwight Howard and Tony Bradley, rookie goalkeepers Tyrese Maxey and Isaiah Joe and guard Dakota Mathias.
Sixers are awaiting the league’s assessment of the circumstances surrounding the seven players’ individual cases to see if at least two of them could be released on Saturday to save a postponement. NBA contact tracking guidelines could cause different differences for different players, including periods of isolation from zero to seven days.
After it was learned that Curry returned a positive test for COVID-19 at the start of the Sixers’ loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night in New York, Curry was brought off the floor and isolated, sources said.
The 76ers were forced to wait for Friday’s test results at the team’s downtown Manhattan hotel before finally boarding a series of separate buses around 11 p.m. ET on Friday for the road to Philadelphia, sources said.
The Nuggets flew to Philadelphia on Friday without talented young striker Michael Porter Jr., who continues to be ruled out under health and safety protocols indefinitely, sources said.
The Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder had a postponed opening game when the Rockets had only seven eligible players.