In the NBA, players agree on additional protocols during the holidays

The NBA and its players have agreed on an improved health and safety protocol during the holiday season in response to growing virus numbers, and further testing is coming and the use of masks will return in many situations.

The updated mask rules is valid “until otherwise agreed NBA and players’ association“,” says a memo distributed to teams on Thursday night and obtained from The Associated Press.

Exceptions: during field basketball activities for players and head coaches during games.

There will be more tests

Testing will be added from December 26 – January 8 the league said. The league also told teams that there will be more requirements and recommendations in the coming days, “in order to reduce the risk Spread of Covid-19 in a team environment. “

The memorandum was published on the same day Russell Westbrook entered health and safety protocols and joined Milwaukee Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brooklyn James Harden The league’s former MVP players are currently on the sidelines due to the coronavirus.

Westbrook played 42 minutes Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night for their overtime victory in Dallas. The Lakers said he will not be playing with four other players on Friday night in Minnesota due to virus problems and two other injuries. However, ESPN said one of the five protocol Lakers – Malik Monk – tested it on Thursday night, making him eligible to play on Friday.

If the NBA gives permission to get confirmations and temporarily exceeds the team size limit, the Lakers were going to sign former All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas on Friday for 10 days of trouble, says a person who knows directly about the negotiations. . The person spoke to the Associated Press anonymously as the approval of the league awaits.

There were at least one on Thursday night 39 players – about 8% of the league’s list of players – from at least 13 different teams known to be in the league’s protocol. Chicago had eight of the league’s tier one players known to be on the protocol, one more than Brooklyn. Harden and Antetokounmpo both joined the protocol earlier this week.

Huge concern

Washington coach Wes Unseld Jr., speaking to reporters in Phoenix before the Wizards match there on Thursday, said the rise in numbers – in the NBA, other leagues and around the country – is “a huge concern”.

“Protocols have been introduced,” Unseld said. “We’ve been testing cases we’ve had for some time. It’s not unusual. It’s not unique to our team. It’s clear to look around the league and the landscape of this country; the number of cases has increased dramatically. The severity of the cases and the number of hospitalizations don’t show be just as dramatic. But it’s still very real. “

Thomas scored 42 points Grand Rapids in the G-League game on Wednesday night and recently appeared in two games in the USA Basketball World Cup qualifiers in Mexico. He played briefly in the NBA last season, averaging 7.7 points in three games in New Orleans.

If that happens, it’s his second job at the Lakers. He played with them in 17 matches in the 2017-18 season.

“For me personally, the ultimate goal is to get back into the NBA,” said Thomas last month, who scored an average of 29 points for the Boston Celtics in the 2016-2017 season and has been fighting a lot of injuries since then. “But I just love playing basketball … I love competing and I love playing against the best players in the world.”

There was a bit of good news on Thursday when Bulls revealed that two of their 10 players who joined the protocol have since received a refund.

The Bulls had two games postponed this week due to a shortage of players. For now, they are due to return to play at home against the Lakers on Sunday.

“We got a really hard hit from all of this and lost a lot of players,” the Bulls coach Billy Donovan said Thursday. “Other teams have gotten a little hit, but not so much.”

The NBA played 430 games on Thursday, or 35% of the season. This week’s two Bulls matches are the only ones that have been postponed by a virus concern.