The game between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder scheduled for Wednesday night has been postponed, the league announced.
The NBA said three Rockets players returned positive or inconclusive tests according to the NBA program. In addition, four other players are currently in quarantine according to the contact tracking protocol.
Tonight’s game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center has been postponed under the league’s Health and Safety Protocols. pic.twitter.com/Qn0hXlxCZr
– NBA (@NBA) December 23, 2020
The Rockets sent three players home Wednesday after their teammate, debutant Kenyon Martin Jr., returned a positive coronavirus test and had to be retested to confirm it, sources told ESPN.
John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Martin were among the Rockets players gathered on Tuesday night at a player’s apartment away from the team’s facility to cut their hair.
Wall and Cousins tested negative for coronavirus on Wednesday morning.
Sources assure ESPN that Martin was waiting for more test results to confirm the initial positive.
Missile catcher Jae’Sean Tate is also among the players who were sent home on Wednesday.
The new NBA contact tracking protocol gives the league the ability to make decisions about potential return deadlines if players continue to give negative results.
The Rockets already had a player, Ben McLemore, away from the team for a few days with coronavirus, sources said.
The league said Rockets star James Harden was unavailable for Wednesday’s game “due to a breach of the Health and Safety Protocol,” according to a video circulating in recent days.
Adrian Wojnarowski, Bobby Marks, Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon contributed to this story.