Sixers are in quarantine in New York following a positive COVID test for one of their players, a PhillyVoice official confirmed late Thursday night. Seth Curry, who was ruled out for Thursday’s game after being ruled out with an ankle injury, was the player who gave positive results. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN was the first to report Curry’s positive test.
According to sources who spoke to PhillyVoice on condition of anonymity, Curry was tested on Thursday morning, according to the mandate of the league’s protocols, but Sixers had no impression that COVID-19 was positive in the game. As a result, Curry sat in street clothes on the bench in Philadelphia for the first quarter, leaving the court only after test results were reported to the team. Once the results were known, Curry isolated himself from the team.
In the first quarter TNT footage reviewed by PhillyVoice, Curry appears to be wearing a mask while on the bench. However, he was in close contact with several members of the Sixers list, including Dwight Howard and Joel Embiid, the latter of whom sat next to Curry and had a conversation with him at the end of the first trimester.
Sorry for the blurry screenshots here, but look back through the footage from the first quarter tonight.
Seth Curry was the only player on the bench to start the game. As time went on, other guys (including Embiid right next to him unmasked) were much closer. pic.twitter.com/AZqYWUOpYs
– Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) January 8, 2021
The Sixers will all test once again in the morning as they work through contact tracking protocols before leaving New York, sources say, and then work with the NBA to find out the next steps here. It is not clear immediately how the team and the league will advance.
Given that Curry’s positive test is a surprise, his choice for the previous game against the Washington Wizards is a potential concern for the spread of the virus. Philadelphia returned again on Saturday in a home game with the Denver Nuggets and there is no information available at this time if the league could be forced to change the schedule or postpone any Sixers game in the immediate future. On the other side of the coin, Joe Vardon reports The Brooklyn Nets are still flying to Memphis for the second half back-to-back on Friday night.
A Sixers player has already stated that he will take his own steps to protect his loved ones. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported late Thursday night that Joel Embiid plans to self-quarantine his family, including his three-month-old son, until he can be sure he doesn’t have the virus.
This story develops …
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