A day after the suspension of a new season game for the first time due to coronavirus, the NBA reported on Thursday that two players tested positive for covid-19 in tests applied to teams in the last week.
As of December 16, 558 players have been tested, two of whom have tested positive, the league said in a statement not detailing the identities of the affected players or their teams.
“Anyone who has had a confirmed positive result will be isolated until they are allowed to leave the isolation in accordance with the rules established by the NBA and the Players’ Association,” the text concludes.
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 Texas team was unable to present at least eight players available for the game after three of its members tested positive or inconclusive and at least four others were quarantined for prevention, the NBA reported Wednesday.
The league also fined Rockets star James Harden $ 50,000 for violating health and safety protocols by attending a private indoor party on Monday.
Harden, who has a momentum with the Rockets to be traded to another team, could be available for Houston’s next game Saturday against the Portland Trail Blazers, as long as he continues to give negative results for Covid-19, ESPN reported Thursday .
According to the network, the goalkeeper, the NBA top scorer in the last three seasons, overcame the coronavirus before playing the last playoffs at the “balloon” headquarters in Disney World (Orlando), a circumstance that does not exempt him from complying with current antivirus 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 teams’ pitches.