Why the 76ers are playing the Nuggets with 7 players, explained

Despite positive COVID-19 tests from Seth Curry and a team staff member, the Philadelphia 76ers are still going to play in their game on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets at the regularly scheduled time.

That’s not all, though. Not only will they play in the game, but they’ll only be playing in the game with seven players actually available to play.

Yes, you read that correctly.

They’re only going to have seven players available. And, through this season, the league is requiring teams to have eight active players on a roster for each given night.

So, you probably have lots of questions by now. How did we get here? Why don’t the Sixers have eight active players? And how are they playing without eight?

We’ve got all the answers for you right here.

Wait, what happened to all of the 76ers players?

On Thursday, the Sixers found out Seth Curry tested positive for COVID-19 in the middle of the team’s game against the Wizards.

They’d initially placed seven players who came in close contact with Curry on the team’s health and safety protocol list. However, three of them, including Joel Embiid, Danny Green and Paul Reed, were cleared from the list ahead of the game.

In total, the Sixers had nine players to go into Saturday’s game, giving them enough to actually play.

So then what happened?

It became pretty clear that the Sixers just didn’t want to actually play in the game after Curry’s test. At least some of them, anyway, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

There are still Philadelphia players unsure about playing vs. Denver today, sources tell ESPN. The league mandates a team must play if it has eight eligible players; Philly technically has nine. Sixers are remaining in contact with league office with tip time at 3 PM.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 9, 2021

Shortly after that, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid popped up with ghost injuries that came out of nowhere.

76ers stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are out today vs. Denver due to injury, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 9, 2021

With both of them now out, the Sixers only had seven players available to play the game.

So then they couldn’t play, right?

Wrong, actually. They still had to play the game because these injuries were not reported to the NBA ahead of time.

The Sixers have been talking to Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons about their availability to play today, but in this case, the hard part for the franchise will be that no injury had been shared with the league's basketball operations department, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/lZSpyqZT9N

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 9, 2021

Therefore, the game couldn’t be postponed. But the Sixers still had to play. So Mike Scott suited up and went through warmups, though Doc Rivers said he won’t play him in the game.

Doc Rivers: "An hour ago we were told we were playing. We have eight active players. One is Mike Scott, and I can tell you right now there's no way I'm going to play him."

Said 76ers essentially have seven players.

"Dwight Howard's going to play point guard …"

— Mike Singer (@msinger) January 9, 2021

That made Scott the Sixers’ 8th player which prevented the Sixers from having to forfeit the game.

Wow. That’s wild.

Yup. And they weren’t happy about it. Rivers made it clear that the Sixers didn’t believe they should be playing the Nuggets tonight, but it was beyond any of them to actually make that call.

Doc Rivers says "I don't think we should" be playing, but that it isn't up to him to decide that. He reiterates he's concerned about the health of his available players, and the minutes the healthy guys are going to have to play.

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 9, 2021

This is ridiculous.

Yup. Here’s how ridiculous it is.

HERE COME THE SIXERS BABY pic.twitter.com/ubj4RFuHwm

— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) January 9, 2021

Man, this is already a mess.

Yup. And it’s probably going to get worse. The NBA has postponed one game already this season, but this certainly looks like it should’ve been the second. Especially with the players being this uncomfortable.

This is the first time we’ve seen this scenario this season, but it certainly won’t be the last. And that’s unfortunate.