2020/21 NBA Game Postponement Tracker
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the protocols the NBA and the NBPA have designed to address it, the league entered the 2020/21 season expecting to have to postpone or cancel a number of games over the course of the year.
The schedule was designed with this complication in mind. The NBA only released the first half of its schedule last fall, announcing at the time that the second half would be released at some point this winter. The goal was to make it simpler to incorporate makeup games for those first-half postponements into the late-season slate.
With the number of postponements beginning to add up, we’re creating a space to track them all. The full list of postponed 2020/21 games is below. Once the NBA announces plans to reschedule these contests, we’ll add those details to our breakdown.
This tracker will continue to be updated throughout the ’20/21 league year, and can be found anytime in the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site, or in the “Features” menu on our mobile site.
Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets
- Original date: December 23, 2020
- Reason for postponement: The Rockets didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: March 21, 2021
- Original date: January 10, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Heat didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: May 11, 2021
New Orleans Pelicans at Dallas Mavericks
- Original date: January 11, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Mavericks didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: May 12, 2021
Boston Celtics at Chicago Bulls
- Original date: January 12, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Celtics didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: May 7, 2021
Orlando Magic at Boston Celtics
- Original date: January 13, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Celtics didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: March 21, 2021
Utah Jazz at Washington Wizards
- Original date: January 13, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Wizards didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: March 18, 2021
- Original date: January 13, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Suns didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: March 30, 2021
Washington Wizards at Detroit Pistons
- Original date: January 15, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Wizards didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: April 1, 2021
Golden State Warriors at Phoenix Suns
- Original date: January 15, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Suns didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: March 4, 2021
Memphis Grizzlies at Minnesota Timberwolves
- Original date: January 15, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Timberwolves didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: May 5, 2021
Indiana Pacers at Phoenix Suns
- Original date: January 16, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Suns didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: March 13, 2021
Cleveland Cavaliers at Washington Wizards
- Original date: January 17, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Wizards didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: April 25, 2021
Philadelphia 76ers at Oklahoma City Thunder
- Original date: January 17, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Sixers didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: April 10, 2021
Cleveland Cavaliers at Washington Wizards
- Original date: January 18, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Wizards didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: May 14, 2021
Washington Wizards at Charlotte Hornets
- Original date: January 20, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Wizards didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: February 7, 2021
Memphis Grizzlies at Portland Trail Blazers
- Original date: January 20, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Grizzlies didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: April 23, 2021
Washington Wizards at Milwaukee Bucks
- Original date: January 22, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Wizards were short on players and hadn’t been able to practice for a week.
- New date: May 5, 2021
Memphis Grizzlies at Portland Trail Blazers
- Original date: January 22, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Grizzlies were affected by contact tracing and had many unavailable players.
- New date: April 25, 2021
Sacramento Kings at Memphis Grizzlies
- Original date: January 24, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Grizzlies were affected by contact tracing and had many unavailable players.
- New date: May 13, 2021
Sacramento Kings at Memphis Grizzlies
- Original date: January 25, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Grizzlies were affected by contact tracing and had many unavailable players.
- New date: May 14, 2021
San Antonio Spurs at New Orleans Pelicans
- Original date: January 25, 2021
- Reason for postponement: Neither the Spurs nor the Pelicans had the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: April 24, 2021
Chicago Bulls at Memphis Grizzlies
- Original date: January 27, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Grizzlies were affected by contact tracing and had many unavailable players.
- New date: April 12, 2021
Detroit Pistons at Denver Nuggets
- Original date: February 1, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Pistons didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: April 6, 2021
San Antonio Spurs at Detroit Pistons
- Original date: February 16, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Spurs didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: March 15, 2021
San Antonio Spurs at Cleveland Cavaliers
- Original date: February 17, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Spurs didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: March 19, 2021
Chicago Bulls at Charlotte Hornets
- Original date: February 17, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Hornets were affected by contact tracing and had many unavailable players.
- New date: May 6, 2021
Detroit Pistons at Dallas Mavericks
- Original date: February 17, 2021
- Reason for postponement: A weather-related state of emergency affected the Dallas area.
- New date: April 21, 2021
Denver Nuggets at Charlotte Hornets
- Original date: February 19, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Hornets were affected by contact tracing and had many unavailable players.
- New date: May 11, 2021
Dallas Mavericks at Houston Rockets
- Original date: February 19, 2021
- Reason for postponement: A weather-related state of emergency resulted in a government shutdown of Houston’s Toyota Center.
- New date: April 7, 2021
San Antonio Spurs at New York Knicks
- Original date: February 20, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Spurs didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: May 13, 2021
Indiana Pacers at Houston Rockets
- Original date: February 20, 2021
- Reason for postponement: A weather-related state of emergency resulted in a government shutdown of Houston’s Toyota Center.
- New date: April 14, 2021
San Antonio Spurs at Indiana Pacers
- Original date: February 22, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Spurs didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: April 19, 2021
Chicago Bulls at Toronto Raptors
- Original date: February 28, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Raptors didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: April 8, 2021
Detroit Pistons at Toronto Raptors
- Original date: March 2, 2021
- Reason for postponement: The Raptors didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
- New date: March 3, 2021
Brooklyn Nets at Minnesota Timberwolves
- Original date: April 12, 2021
- Reason for postponement: Unrest in Minneapolis in the wake of a police shooting.
- New date: April 13, 2021
Note: This list doesn’t include games that were intentionally postponed well in advance for scheduling purposes, such as the Trail Blazers/Hornets game that was originally set to be played on February 7.
Kyrie Irving Fined, Loses Game Checks For Violating COVID-19 Protocols
Nets star Kyrie Irving has been fined $50K for violating the NBA’s protocols related to the coronavirus, the league announced today in a press release.
According to the announcement, the violation occurred when Irving attended a private indoor party last weekend. Presumably, this was the event – believed to be a family birthday party – captured on the video that surfaced online earlier this week. The league’s protocols prohibit players from attending indoor social gatherings of 15 or more people and from entering bars, lounges, or clubs.
While $50K isn’t a substantial loss for a player earning $33.46MM this season, the NBA also announced that Irving has been subject to a five-day quarantine period this week for his protocol violation, making him eligible to rejoin the Nets on Saturday, assuming he doesn’t record a positive COVID-19 test. He’ll forfeit salary for the games he missed during that quarantine period, according to the league.
Since the Nets’ Tuesday and Wednesday games happened during his quarantine period, Irving will be docked two game checks, Shams Charania of The Athletic confirms (Twitter link). As recently reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), each game missed due to a COVID-19 protocol violation costs a player 1/81.6th of his salary.
In Irving’s case, the result is about $410K per game in forfeited salary. Taking into account his fine and the two games he missed this week, Irving’s violation will cost him a total of approximately $870K.
Prior to this protocol violation, Irving had been away from the Nets for personal reasons, but it sounds like his leave is coming to an end. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Irving is expected to play for Brooklyn on Saturday as long as he’s cleared.
Five Wizards Players Have Tested Positive For COVID-19
The Wizards are now up to five players who have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Shams Charania and Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).
A report on Thursday indicated that a third Wizards player had returned a positive COVID-19 test, so two more players have since joined that group. It’s unclear exactly how many other players on the roster have been affected by the NBA’s contact tracing protocols.
The Wizards’ home game vs. Utah on Wednesday was postponed due to the team’s lack of available players, and tonight’s game in Detroit won’t be played as scheduled either.
At this point, it seems increasingly likely that the Wizards’ two games against Cleveland on Sunday and Monday will have to be postponed as well, though nothing has been officially announced on that front yet.
The NBA and its teams aren’t announcing which players test positive for COVID-19, so unless it’s reported in the coming days, we won’t get much clarity on which Wizards players are out until the team has to issue its next injury report. We do know that Rui Hachimura and Moritz Wagner were placed into the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Tuesday.
Hernangomez, Rubio Entering COVID-19 Protocols
Timberwolves power forward Juan Hernangomez will isolate for at least 10 days due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, according to Jon Krawcyznski of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Like Hernangomez, Minnesota point guard Ricky Rubio will also miss the Timberwolves’ Friday bout against the Grizzlies as a result of the league’s COVID-19 protocols, the team tweets, though a timeline for Rubio’s absence has not been established publicly.
Rubio could have recorded a positive or inconclusive test, or could be quarantining himself as a result of contact-tracing measures. Depending on what happened, the timeline for Rubio’s return could be briefer than Hernangomez’s absence.
In 11 games for Minnesota (including 6 starts), Hernangomez is averaging 6.6 PPG and 5.3 RPG across 20.4 MPG. He is struggling to shoot from the floor thus far this year, connecting on just 39.7% of his field goals. For his second stint with the NBA club that drafted him, Rubio is averaging a career-low 6.3 PPG and 5.4 APG in a reduced role over the team’s first 11 contests.
Zion Clears COVID-19 Protocols, Can Play Friday
Second-year Pelicans forward Zion Williamson will be able to suit up tomorrow against the Lakers after having been placed into the league’s coronavirus protocols yesterday, according to Andrew Lopez of ESPN (via Twitter).
Williamson was held out of last night’s 111-106 loss to the Clippers as a precaution after returning an inconclusive coronavirus test result yesterday. A negative confirmatory test has cleared the 6’6″ 20-year-old for activity tomorrow night, Lopez adds in an additional tweet.
The Pelicans, coached by new addition Stan Van Gundy and boasting the impressive forward tandem of Williamson and All-Star wing Brandon Ingram, are currently the No. 13 seed in a hyper-competitive Western Conference atmosphere, with a 4-6 record. Across nine games this season, Williamson is averaging 21.9 PPG on 55.7% shooting from the field, 8.1 RPG and 1.3 APG.
Pacers/Suns Saturday Game Postponed
The NBA is postponing Saturday’s scheduled contest between the Pacers and Suns, per a team press release (Twitter link). The NBA announced that COVID-19 health and safety protocols will preclude Phoenix from being able to field at least eight players at Phoenix Suns Arena this weekend.
In less than a month of action, this will be the tenth game of the 2020/21 season to be postponed as a result of coronavirus-related health and safety protocols. The Suns’ game against the Warriors scheduled for Friday was previously postponed yesterday.
John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix tweets that no Suns players themselves have recorded positive coronavirus tests, which would indicate that enough players are quarantining as a result of contact tracing that the game will still need to be postponed.
Mo Bamba Will Miss Magic/Celtics Tilt Due To COVID-19 Protocols
Magic center Mohamed Bamba stayed in Orlando rather than traveling to Boston for the Magic’s Friday tilt against the Celtics due to the NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocols, according to Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).
Robbins notes that Bamba’s absence is a result of “non-team contact tracing,” though Bamba himself has not tested positive for COVID-19.
The 6-5 Magic are currently the No. 5 seed in the East, mostly behind the play of starting center Nikola Vučević, guard Terrence Ross, and forward Aaron Gordon.
Bamba’s absence may not have much of an on-court impact for the Magic. The 22-year-old reserve big man out of Texas is averaging 5.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 0.5 APG and 0.5 BPG across a career-low 8.3 MPG in four games for the Magic this season.
Bamba previously contracted the coronavirus in June and struggled to recover through the beginning of the NBA’s Orlando-based summer restart to the 2019/20 season. At the time, he dealt with significant symptoms, including fatigue, muscle soreness, and a temporary loss of his senses of taste and smell.
Hawks Coach Lloyd Pierce Cleared After Being Isolated
JANUARY 14: Pierce is no longer in isolation, Spencer tweets. He has been cleared by the NBA’s medical staff and can travel with the team to Utah.
JANUARY 13: Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce is remaining isolated in a Phoenix hotel room after a member of the team’s traveling party tested positive for COVID-19, a source tells Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She adds that the positive test didn’t involve a player, but several other Hawks personnel are isolating.
Everyone traveling with the team is tested daily, and Pierce tested negative Wednesday morning, Spencer writes. He is waiting for direction from the NBA’s medical staff and hasn’t been told how long he needs to isolate.
“I think I’m fine. I’ll be fine. I tested negative,” he said. “I’m absolutely fine, but I’ll adhere to whatever comes my way, whenever I find that information.”
Atlanta’s game with the Suns tonight was postponed because league health and safety protocols left Phoenix without enough available players. The Hawks are scheduled to leave tomorrow for Friday’s game at Utah, and Pierce told Spencer he expects to accompany the team. He said players will have to continue to adjust to sudden schedule changes.
“It’s an unfortunate situation for the game, it’s an unfortunate situation across the league,” Pierce said. “I think for us, more than anything, it’s just making sure the guys can get on the court and get some work in. This whole season, the court time is limited. So we can’t afford to lose court time just because a game has been postponed, because that just sets us back even further.”
Another Wizards Player Tests Positive For COVID-19
The Wizards have another positive coronavirus test, giving them three players who have tested positive, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who doesn’t identify the player. The team already had games postponed for Wednesday and Friday due to a shortage of players.
On Tuesday, Washington’s Rui Hachimura and Moritz Wagner were placed into the NBA’s health and safety protocols. The amount of time they have to spend in quarantine hasn’t been determined yet. Other team members are subject to contact tracing, but their names haven’t been released.
Washington’s schedule may be contributing to their COVID-19 issues as they have recently faced the Celtics, Sixers and Heat, who are all short-handed because of the virus. The Wizards’ next scheduled game will be Sunday afternoon against the Cavaliers if they have eight available players by then.
NBA Seeks To Expand Coronavirus Testing
With postponed games piling up this week due to health and safety protocols, the NBA sent a memo to teams Wednesday outlining a plan to supplement the current testing guidelines, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
Each team in the 28 NBA cities is being asked to research local providers of PCR tests. The league is hoping to have 40 tests on the morning of each game — enough to cover players on both teams along with referees — and have the results available at least an hour before tipoff. Bontemps notes that PCR tests are considered more accurate than rapid tests, but take much longer to process.
BioReference will remain the league’s official testing service, Bontemps adds, but the league wants to ensure a second option in case there’s a problem with the transportation of tests.
The NBA currently requires players and officials to have a negative PCR test from the day before a game before they are cleared to participate. The long window is necessary because the tests take about 12 hours to process, but Bontemps states that they can be available faster in cities with a BioReference lab.
Nine games have been postponed so far this season, including a pair on Friday night: the Wizards and Pistons in Detroit and the Warriors and Suns in Phoenix. The Wizards and Suns are unable to field the league minimum of eight healthy players.