Four Celtics Questionable Due To Health And Safety Protocols
Because of the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, Celtics players Grant Williams, Robert Williams, Tristan Thompson and Carsen Edwards have been listed as “questionable” for Boston’s bout against the Wizards tomorrow, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN (via Twitter).
At present, the Celtics and the NBA have yet to provide further details on the nature of the players’ potential lack of availability.
Bontemps speculates that these four Celtics could be part of the league contact tracing program, in which case they would have been exposed to someone who later tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Alternately, one or more of these players could also have recorded a positive or inconclusive coronavirus test result.
Thompson has thus far been the club’s starting power forward in an ultra-big front court alongside incumbent center Daniel Theis. Reserve center Robert Williams (16.4 MPG) and backup power forward Grant Williams (19.1 MPG) have represented integral parts of Boston’s big man rotation thus far. Head coach Brad Stevens may have to get creative with his roster, employing forward Jayson Tatum more at the power forward slot and leaning more on 6’6″ power forward Semi Ojeleye.
5’11” shooting guard Edwards has been a less-critical component of the Celtics’ backcourt rotation, averaging just 7.3 MPG in four of nine contests. That said, with starting point guard Kemba Walker still inactive, backup Jeff Teague day-to-day, and reserve wings Romeo Langford and Javonte Green also absent, the Celtics need all the bodies they can get.
Four New Positive COVID-19 Tests Among Players Since Dec. 30
Of the 498 NBA players who have been tested for COVID-19 since December 30, four new players have returned confirmed positive tests, the league and the NBPA announced today in a joint press release.
When the league last announced its testing results on December 30, it had gone a week without a new confirmed positive test, but that streak didn’t carry over into the new year.
The league hasn’t been announcing which players have tested positive and teams have generally declined to provide that info as well, except in cases where players are comfortable disclosing it. During the past week, we learned that Bulls veterans Tomas Satoransky and Chandler Hutchison tested positive — it’s safe to assume those are two of the four positive tests noted in today’s announcement.
There are a number of players around the league currently listed as out due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, so it’s not clear which other two players tested positive along with Satoransky and Hutchison.
Atlantic Notes: Durant, Robinson, Ibaka, Toppin
Nets coach Steve Nash contends that the schedule for All-Star forward Kevin Durant‘s return from his COVID-19 protocol-necessitated quarantining is a “moving target,” according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. On Tuesday, Durant commenced his quarantine, per NBA health and safety protocols, after being exposed to someone who tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The belief was that the quarantine would last seven days.
“My understanding is that it is a quarantine, so I don’t think there will be any on-court activity,” Nash said. “There’s negative tests, days from the contact tracing and all sorts of factors that go into it. So, I don’t really have an answer yet on how long.” The Nets crushed the Jazz 130-96 in their first test without Durant.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has been improving his efforts to avoid foul calls, Greg Joyce of the New York Post reports. “It’s actually, like, nobody wants to get yelled at by the coaches, so I’ve been just trying to maintain that the best way that I can,” Robinson said. “I’ve been working on it.” The young big man is averaging 3.0 fouls per game in 29.6 MPG, a marked improvement over his 3.2 fouls in 23.1 MPG during the 2019/20 season.
- Raptors president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster apparently frustrated free agent center/power forward Serge Ibaka when the club offered him a number below what he was hoping for in an attempt to leave some cap space to re-sign starting center Marc Gasol, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet. Toronto bumped its one-year offer from $12MM to $14MM, but Ibaka apparently also did not want to continue being a backup to Gasol. Both players wound up departing for cheaper deals with Los Angeles title contenders, and the 1-5 (as of this writing) Raptors appear to be missing the two-way skill set of their championship frontcourt tandem.
- Following an evaluation yesterday, Knicks power forward Obi Toppin will begin running and jumping as he continues to rehabilitate from a right calf strain, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (Twitter link). After this, Toppin will subsequently move on to on-court workouts. The rookie hurt the calf in the club’s December 23 opening night bout against the Pacers. “He’s making good progress and we just have to be patient,” new head coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Team Staffers Struggling To Balance New COVID-19 Responsibilities With Typical Duties
Team officials around the NBA who have been tasked with enforcing and managing COVID-19 protocols – in addition to their typical team duties – are feeling overwhelmed and are struggling to keep up, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPN.
A number of those officials who have to manage the new health and safety protocols have had trouble balancing their roles and are concerned they’re not spending enough time on the usual treatment, recovery, and training for players, according to Holmes.
“What scares me — and I know it’s happening — is that their normal job of doing health care on players (is impaired),” one league source told ESPN. “I’ve had some trainers tell me, ‘I haven’t touched a player in two weeks because I’ve been so busy doing all this logistics and testing and all that.’ That’s concerning. That’s definitely what I don’t want to happen.”
While no one who spoke to Holmes blamed the NBA for its diligence in establishing extensive coronavirus protocols, most felt worn out by all the extra work those protocols have created. One head athletic trainer for a Western Conference team told ESPN that the usual workload has at least doubled, if not tripled, this season.
As Holmes writes, the league required each club to name a testing officer, a contact tracing officer, a face mask enforcement officer, a facility hygiene officer, a health education and awareness officer, and a travel safety officer, among other positions. In many cases, the same staffer holds more than one of those roles.
The league’s protocols are also constantly evolving and being updated, and teams must account for varying local rules and regulations in each market on road trips.
“There’s just not enough hours in the day to read the memos, the nuances, compliance, testing, the things that quickly change.” one Western Conference GM told Holmes. “You have constant scenarios happening where the memos don’t cover that particular situation…That’s no one’s fault. It’s just where we’re at.”
There’s hope among teams’ health officials that they’ll be able to get accustomed to their dual roles and “find a rhythm” as the season progresses, according to Holmes, but there’s also concern that the burnout will only get worse.
“Every waking hour seems to be committed to (the protocols),” one Eastern Conference head athletic training official said. “But you look down the pike here, and… you wonder, ‘God, I barely got through today, how am I going to do this another 100-something times?'”
Bogdan Bogdanovic Talks Free Agency, COVID-19, Hawks
Speaking to Sam Amick of The Athletic about his recent experience in free agency, Bogdan Bogdanovic said he learned about the apparent sign-and-trade agreement between the Kings and Bucks (that would have sent him to Milwaukee) on Twitter, reading about it at the same time everyone else did.
“When the news came out, we were like, ‘What the f–k?'” Bogdanovic told Amick. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
As Bogdanovic explains, he had been told during the summer that the Kings wanted to keep him, so when word of the alleged sign-and-trade broke, he was caught off guard for two reasons: He hadn’t agreed to join the Bucks and he didn’t realize Sacramento was looking to trade him. The veteran swingman had been expecting to either negotiate with the Kings or to sign an offer sheet when free agency opened.
“I was like, ‘OK, we wait for the market,’ and I was ready for that,” Bogdanovic said. “Like, OK, wait for the market and let’s see what’s going to happen. In the end, (the Kings) decided to not tell me about nothing, about what was going on with Milwaukee. I really didn’t know nothing. Yes, I’m friends with Thanasis (Antetokounmpo) mostly — (Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s) brother — but we didn’t know what was going on. It was really on Twitter.
“Now, people are making stories off of it. … I was like, ‘What is going on?’ I didn’t know what was going on. And then, two days later, the NBA investigation (began), and no one called me from the Kings yet. I just got a text, like, ‘Thanks for being part of the team,’ and that’s it.”
[RELATED: Bucks Lose 2022 Second-Round Pick For Early Pursuit Of Bogdanovic]
Bogdanovic’s wide-ranging discussion with Amick goes into more detail on his reaction to learning of the reported agreement between the Kings and Bucks and what it meant for his impending free agency. However, the interview – which is worth checking out in full – also touches on several other topics, including his pivot to Atlanta, his new role with the Hawks, and testing positive for COVID-19.
Here are some of the highlights from the conversation:
On dealing with a positive coronavirus test at the same time as he navigated free agency:
“Yeah, I had it. I had it, and I recovered and I started working out back in Serbia and I was fine. I didn’t have any crazy symptoms or anything like that, but it was all stressful, you know? You’re thinking about coming back and being ready and in shape, you know? It was really stressful. That two, three weeks? Whoo.”
On having to find a new deal in restricted free agency after the Bucks-related drama:
“At that point, when free agency opens up, I was just focused on one thing, you know? And Atlanta called first. The Kings actually called me like 15 minutes after, and I liked what they (the Hawks) offered me. … I think, in the end, I was lucky and I end up being in the perfect situation in terms of contract and a team.”
On whether he thoughts the Kings would match his offer sheet with the Hawks:
“I was scared for that (because) at that point I wanted to leave. At that point, when they traded me already and they didn’t want to talk to me about it, I was like, ‘OK, they really want me out of here.’ So I was like, ‘OK.’
“We end up signing the offer sheet, so I was thinking like, ‘Damn, in the end, they’re going to match this.’ I was confused. It’s not really free agency, because you are not free. And yes, you’re restricted — you’re really restricted. It’s restricted agency. It’s not free agency.”
On how he feels about his new role coming off the bench in Atlanta:
“I feel fine. I feel fine about it. I think coach (Lloyd Pierce) is putting me in situations to kind of run the second unit, you know? And be like the sixth man of the unit. And when you play with Trae (Young), it’s so easy. He always draws so much attention on him, and that’s what gives me a lot of open shots. Not just me, but everyone else.
“… We are still figuring it out, and I think from this point we can just get better. It’s so much talent. And we have a lot of guys who can get off one night, so that’s a really good problem to have on a team. … I like it so far. We really have a pretty good group, a mix of young (players) and veterans — which is really nice; energy and experience. So it’s really nice to be here. It’s really fun.”
NBA Tightens Health And Safety Protocols
The NBA has made some amendments its COVID-19 protocols, including a requirement that all active players who are dressed to play must wear a face mask until they enter the game, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
That rule will go into effect on Tuesday. Additionally, all players, coaches and staffers in Tiers 1 and 2 must wear a mask when outside the team setting and indoors.
After leaving the court, active players are strongly recommended to wear mask in the bench area. The requirement resets at halftime — players not in the game at the start of second half must don a mask until they enter. Inactive players remain required to wear mask for the entire game, Charania adds.
The tightening of restrictions comes at a time when multiple teams are dealing with coronavirus issues to either players or staffers. In-game protocols are particularly important, as the league is intent on preventing the possibility of having to postpone games due to multiple positive tests and contact tracing.
Kevin Durant To Miss Multiple Games Under COVID-19 Protocols
Nets star forward Kevin Durant is listed out Tuesday against the Jazz due to NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocols, the team’s PR department tweets.
Durant’s faces a seven-day quarantine because of exposure to a positive COVID-19 case, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Malika Andrews report. That means Durant would also have to sit out three more games. He has continued to register antibodies and has tested negative in multiple recent tests, Wojnarowski adds.
No other player on the team was listed as out for the same reason.
Durant tested positive for the virus back in March, shortly after play was halted. He later stated to ESPN’s Marc Spears he didn’t experience symptoms.
“I didn’t have any symptoms so I am good,” he said this summer. “I couldn’t leave the house. … The unknown was definitely difficult to deal with. But other than that, I was great.”
The NBA is experiencing an uptick in cases without the protection of a bubble. The Bulls are dealing with the virus, as Tomas Satoransky and Chandler Hutchison have tested positive recently and two other Chicago players have simultaneously been held out of action.
Tomas Satoransky Tests Positive For COVID-19
Bulls guard Tomas Satoransky has tested positive for the coronavirus, head coach Billy Donovan said today, as relayed by K.C Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link).
This comes just two days after it was revealed that Bulls forward Chandler Hutchison tested positive, with one other support staff member also recently testing positive, Donovan said.
Lauri Markkanen and Ryan Arcidiacono (Health and Safety Protocols) also missed Sunday’s game against Dallas. It remains unlikely that either player will travel with the team initially for its upcoming four-game road trip, Johnson tweets.
Satoransky, 29, averaged 9.9 points, 5.4 assists and 28.9 minutes per game last season. He was acquired by the Bulls in a sign-and-trade back in 2019.
Clippers Staffers Quarantining After Positive COVID-19 Test
Following a positive COVID-19 test in Salt Lake City for a Clippers staffer, support staff members are quarantining in Los Angeles, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Contact tracing sourced the exposure to a shared New Year’s Eve meal, with only occasional mask-wearing, at a presidential suite in the club’s Utah hotel. Seven Clippers staff members were impacted, per Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). League health and safety protocols generally require the exposed to isolate themselves for seven days.
So that they could quarantine in their home market, the affected Clippers staff members were transported back to L.A. from Salt Lake City in sprinter vans. Woj adds that no Clippers players, management or coaches have needed to quarantine at this juncture.
The 4-2 Clippers are set to play the 5-1 Suns in Phoenix tonight. Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN tweets that, despite these coronavirus-related absences, L.A. will have enough available support staff to partake in tonight’s contest.
Bulls’ Chandler Hutchison Tests Positive For COVID-19
Bulls head coach Billy Donovan announced that forward Chandler Hutchison has tested positive for COVID-19, ESPN’s Eric Woodyard writes.
Hutchison is currently in Washington, D.C., where Chicago beat the Wizards on Thursday. In addition to Hutchison, the Bulls were without Lauri Markkanen, Ryan Arcidiacono and Tomas Satoransky for Friday’s tilt against the Bucks under the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
“He’s going through the NBA safety and protocols,” Donovan said of Hutchinson.
This is not the Bulls’ first encounter with COVID-19 this season. Noah Vonleh tested positive during the preseason and was subsequently released. Guard Garrett Temple confirmed he tested positive in late November.
Hutchison, 24, has appeared in four games for Chicago this season, averaging 3.3 PPG and 4.3 RPG off the bench. He will have to clear the league’s safety and protocols before returning, which includes a quarantine period and producing several negative COVID-19 tests.