NBA stoppage looms

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The NBA and its players union updated Covid-19 health and safety protocols on Tuesday as positive tests and game postponements mounted.

The Washington Wizards’ home game against the Utah Jazz scheduled for Wednesday was postponed on Tuesday night, the sixth game to be scrubbed in the three-week old season.
Earlier Tuesday, the league said Wednesday’s game between the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic would be postponed.

Boston’s scheduled Tuesday clash at Chicago had already been wiped out as contact tracing and isolation left the Celtics with too few players to take the floor.

The league said contact tracing among the Wizards would leave the team with less than the required eight players to face the Jazz.

Amid the burgeoning cases, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced tighter restrictions for players aimed at stemming the spread of coronavirus, as the United States remained in the grip of the pandemic.

The new measures were imposed “in response to the surge of Covid-19 cases across the country and an uptick among NBA teams requiring potential player quarantines,” a league statement said.
For at least the next two weeks, players and team staffers are required to remain at their residence at all times when the club is at home except to attend team-related activities, exercise outside or perform essential activities, except in extraordinary circumstances.

Interactions away from the NBA club are limited to household members, family and any personal staff working regularly in the home.

When the club is on the road, players and team staff are banned from leaving the hotel, except for team activities or emergencies, or interacting with non-team guests.

Any pre-game meetings in the locker room are limited to no more than 10 minutes and all in attendance must wear a mask.