NBA postpones Saturday's Suns-Pacers game due to COVID-19 issues
The NBA’s COVID-19 issues aren’t getting any better.
On Thursday, which marked the fifth-straight day it has done so, the league had to postpone a game due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Phoenix Suns’ matchup with the Indiana Pacers on Saturday is now off.
NBA postpones Suns-Pacers due to COVID-19
The Suns, the league said, do not have eight available players to compete in Saturday’s game with the Pacers due to contact tracing going on within the organization.
The following was released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/CxVQhXolAL
— NBA (@NBA) January 14, 2021
Phoenix already had its game with the Atlanta Hawks postponed on Wednesday and its matchup with the Golden State Warriors on Friday due to the coronavirus. The Suns, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, were exposed to the virus during their 128-107 loss to the Washington Wizards on Monday.
The Wizards had their games against the Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons postponed this week after several players had tested positive for the coronavirus, per The Washington Post.
The league has now had to postpone 10 games so far this season, all but one of which were done in the past week. The NBA issued new health and safety protocols on Tuesday in an effort to keep the season going safely, which included keeping players at their homes or hotels when not playing, wearing face masks on the bench and minimizing non-game contact with other players.
The coronavirus is currently raging throughout the United States like never before. The country recorded more than 230,000 new cases on Wednesday alone, according to The New York Times, and had a record-high 4,406 new deaths on Tuesday. Arizona has seen massive spikes in the coronavirus in recent days, too. The state has the highest positivity rate in the country, and is averaging more than 9,200 new cases a day.
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