As COVID-19 cases spike around the NBA, the Miami Heat’s road game against the Boston Celtics scheduled for Sunday night at TD Garden has been postponed, according to a league source.
The news came hours after Heat guard Avery Bradley was ruled out for Sunday’s game because of the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. It’s unclear if Bradley tested positive for the virus or if he’s being forced to miss time because of contact tracing.
While Bradley was the only Heat player on Sunday afternoon’s injury report whose status was affected by the protocols, it was later decided that there were enough Heat players who would be unavailable because of contact tracing to force the postponement of Sunday night’s game, a league source told the Miami Herald.
The NBA requires each team to have eight available players to proceed with games.
The Celtics were also right on the line of that eight-player minimum entering Sunday night’s contest mostly because of players testing positive for COVID-19 and contact tracing related to the league’s health and safety protocols.
Boston had already ruled out nine players for Sunday’s game, which meant it was on track to have just eight available players against Miami.
The Celtics had ruled out All-Star forward Jayson Tatum against the Heat because of health and safety protocols.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Saturday that Tatum is expected to enter quarantine and miss 10 to 14 days because of the league’s health and safety protocols. Tatum tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday and was awaiting a confirmation test, according to Mark Murphy from the Boston Herald.
The Celtics were also set to be without Robert Williams, who The Boston Globe reported tested positive for COVID-19., and forwards Tristan Thompson and Grant Williams because of contact tracing.
In addition, the Celtics had ruled out Jaylen Brown, Javonte Green and Semi Ojeleye because of health and safety protocols.
Boston also wouldn’t have had Kemba Walker (left knee injury recovery) and Romeo Langford (right wrist surgery) for Sunday’s game against the Heat.
