The NBA has postponed the San Antonio Spurs‘ next three games after four players on the team tested positive for COVID-19, the league announced Tuesday.
The Charlotte Hornets, who played the Spurs on Sunday, are undergoing contact tracing and will have their next two games postponed, the NBA said.
The Spurs have remained quarantined in Charlotte since Sunday’s game, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
San Antonio’s affected games were scheduled for Wednesday at the Cleveland Cavaliers, Saturday at the New York Knicks and next Monday at the Indiana Pacers.
San Antonio’s next possible game is Feb. 24 at the Oklahoma City Thunder, meaning the Spurs will have more than a week between contests — joining the Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies as teams to endure such a situation this season.
The Hornets games affected were scheduled for Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls and Friday against the Denver Nuggets.
Denver will now play at Cleveland on Friday, the NBA said. That game, originally targeted for the second half of the season, is replacing the postponed Nuggets-Hornets game on the schedule. The NBA has said it will shuffle some games, when possible, to accommodate the need to reschedule games in the second half of the season.
Charlotte’s next possible game is now Saturday at home against the Golden State Warriors, in what would be Stephen Curry‘s annual return to North Carolina, where he grew up.
The postponements announced Tuesday push the total of games that have been moved back this season because of positive tests or contact-tracing issues to 29, including the Spurs’ game at the Detroit Pistons that was to have been played Tuesday night. The NBA called that game off on Monday.
The NBA does not reveal which players tested positive, but its announcement of the latest postponements said the Spurs had positive tests among players — and did not mention coaches. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich announced last month, on his 72nd birthday, that he has received the vaccine that protects against the effects of COVID-19.
The Spurs were without guard Quinndary Weatherspoon for their game Sunday against Charlotte because of the league’s COVID-19 protocols; Weatherspoon had played 10 minutes on Friday in Atlanta against the Hawks, then was flagged by the protocols over the weekend.
Being ruled out because of the protocols can suggest any number of things, including a positive test, a suspected positive test or contact-tracing data showing that a player might have been exposed to a person with COVID-19.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source : ESPN
