The NBA is in the midst of a big COVID-19 outbreak, with multiple teams now dealing with significant absences and games being postponed. The Chicago Bulls, who have had two games postponed, have 10 players in Health and Safety Protocols, The Brooklyn Nets have seven players. The fifth Lakers went in today. The Bucks and Knicks have four each.
Now the Celtics have one.
Jabari Parker was ruled out of tomorrow's game against the Milwaukee Bucks as he entered protocols. The Celtics had just gotten Josh Richardson back from protocols yesterday, making them whole for one day.
Romeo Langford also missed practice today because he wasn't feeling well, but he is not on the injury report at the moment. He already dealt with COVID-19 back in March.
"We had meetings here yesterday and we're as much on our toes and waiting for information day-by-day and being ready to hit curveballs like we have been in the past," Brad Stevens said on his weekly radio appearance on 98.5. "With the holidays and the gatherings, there was a thought that there would be an uptick. I'm not sure that anyone predicted an uptick like this in our league."
ESPN reports the league and the NBPA are in discussion to increase testing league wide for vaccinated players and staff. As of right now, more than 60 players have entered Health and Safety Protocols this season.
"My thing has always been if there is a medical reason and a health reason where it's important that we test more, then we'll be the first line," Stevens said. "We need to make sure that we have all of the information, and so that's what the league is trying to figure out.
"Right now, the testing policies in the league are you test with symptoms if you're vaccinated and same thing if you're vaccinated and boosted. So that's the the current rule. Now, there are different places that can certainly operate different ways, and we've certainly talked about whether or not we need to test every single person every single day. And that's where I think the league will continue to give us guidance and we'll continue to seek the guidance of our doctors."
There are multiple reports that the league is trying to simply power through this outbreak and, so far, only the two Bulls games have been lost. The Lakers were given a hardship exception to deal with their outbreak and are bringing on Isaiah Thomas on an emergency 10-day contract. It appears the league will be more generous with measures like this as opposed to more cancellations. With the big Christmas Day slate of games approaching the league seems to want to avoid an extreme measure like a pause to the season.
The Celtics, meanwhile, say they're trying to be as safe as possible to avoid being swept up in the outbreak.
"We're in constant contact with our team doctor, infectious disease specialist and the league about what we should be doing, how we should, alter, if anything, any of our approaches, but it's yeah, it's scary," Stevens said. "There's a G League team that's been completely shut out of the showcase next week. There's a couple of college teams that have canceled their games this weekend. I mean, it's everywhere."