The Nets’ Sunday matchup against the Denver Nuggets and Tuesday matchup against the Washington Wizards have been postponed due to the latest wave of COVID-19 cases affecting the NBA, the league announced on Sunday.
The league also postponed the following other games: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Pelicans vs. Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, and Toronto Raptors vs. Orlando Magic on Monday.
The Nets currently have 10 players in the NBA’s health and safety protocol (these players have either returned a positive or inconclusive COVID-19 test): Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul Millsap, DeAndre’ Bembry, Bruce Brown, James Johnson, Jevon Carter and rookie Day’Ron Sharpe. Nets head coach Steve Nash has also said a number of both staff members and assistant coaches have entered the health and safety protocols, as well.
The minimum number of players required to participate in a game is eight, leaving just Patty Mills and Blake Griffin as the only veteran players who started the season with the Nets available on the roster. Rookies Cam Thomas, David Duke Jr. and Kessler Edwards are also available, and the Nets signed three free agents to 10-day contracts using hardship exceptions: Langston Galloway, Shaquille Harrison and James Ennis.
The Nets already played three games severely shorthanded. They played without half their regular roster since Dec. 14, when Durant posted a 34-point triple double to lead an eight-man roster to a win over the Raptors. On Dec. 16, Durant scored another 34 points to lead just nine players to a win over the 76ers. Then two days later, Durant entered the health and safety protocols, and a team led by just Mills and Griffin lost to the Orlando Magic. Mills was supposed to rest on Saturday but had to play if the Nets were going to meet the minimum requirement for available players.
Other notable players with ties to the Nets also in the COVID-19 protocol include ex-Nets big man Jarrett Allen, who entered the protocol in the middle of his breakout season for the Cavaliers. Allen was on track to become a first-time All-Star in Cleveland, where he’s averaged 17 points, 11 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game for the Cavaliers (19-12), who rank third in the Eastern Conference.
Prior to Dec. 14, no more than five NBA players entered the health and safety protocols in a single day. Since that date, the league put 64 players in the health and safety protocols. The influx of players affected by COVID-19 comes amid a surge of cases stemming from the new, feared to be more transmissible, Omicron variant of the virus, which has played a role in the spike of cases in the Big Apple and around the world.
It remains unclear whether the NBA will allow this wave of the virus to impact its plans for Christmas Day: The Nets are still set to play the Los Angeles Lakers; the Knicks are scheduled to host the Hawks; the Golden State Warriors will travel to Phoenix to play the Suns; the Boston Celtics will take on the Milwaukee Bucks and the Dallas Mavericks will compete against the Utah Jazz.
