The NBA has postponed the San Antonio Spurs’ next three matches after four players to the team tested positive for COVID-19the team announced Tuesday.
The Charlotte Hornets, who played with the Spurs on Sunday, are undergoing contact tracing and will have their next two matches postponed, the NBA said.
The Spurs have remained quarantined in Charlotte because Sunday’s match, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
San Antonio’s affected games were scheduled for Wednesday in the Cleveland Cavaliers, Saturday at the New York Knicks and next Monday in the Indiana Pacers.
San Antonio’s second potential game is Feb. 24 at the Oklahoma City Thunder, meaning the Spurs will have more than a week between contests — linking the Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies as teams to survive this type of situation this year.
The Hornets games affected were scheduled for Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls and Friday from the Denver Nuggets.
Denver will now play at Cleveland on Friday, the NBA said. That game, initially targeted for the next half of this season, is replacing the postponed Nuggets-Hornets match on the program. The NBA has said it will shuffle some matches, when possible, to adapt the requirement to reschedule games from the second half of this season.
The postponements announced Tuesday push the total of matches which were moved back this season because of positive evaluations or contact-tracing issues to 29, including the Spurs’ game at the Detroit Pistons that was to happen to be played Tuesday night. The NBA predicted off that game on Monday.
The NBA doesn’t reveal which players tested positive, but its statement of the latest postponements said the Spurs had positive tests among players — and did not mention coaches. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich declared 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 with 10 minutes on Friday in Atlanta against the Hawks, then was flagged from the protocols over the weekend.
Being ruled out because of the protocols can indicate numerous things, such as a positive test, a suspected positive test or contact-tracing data demonstrating that a player might have been exposed to a individual who has COVID-19.
