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Tim BontempsESPN
In an effort to combat the piling up of games on the NBA schedule due to postponements as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA on Wednesday announced it will be adjusting its existing schedule to avoid having to fill in too many games during the second half of its season.
To do so, the NBA will do two things: reschedule games that have already been postponed, where possible, between now and the league’s scheduled midseason break in early March; and rescheduling games to the second half of the season — which has yet to be announced — in order to squeeze in more games where possible in the first half.
While making this announcement Wednesday, the NBA did both things. First, it scheduled a game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Washington Wizards — originally scheduled for the second half of the season — for Feb. 2. It then moved Portland’s game on Feb. 7, scheduled against the Charlotte Hornets, to the second half of the season.
Finally, it scheduled a game between the Wizards and Hornets on Feb. 7 — a game that had originally been scheduled for Jan. 20, before having to be postponed.
To date, the NBA has had to postpone 22 games due to teams not having enough players to safely play a game because of the league’s health and safety protocols. Of those 22 games, 12 have involved two teams — the Wizards, who didn’t play from Jan. 11-24, and the Memphis Grizzlies, who haven’t played since Jan. 18 and won’t return before Saturday’s game at San Antonio at the earliest.
As a result of the virus wreaking havoc with several teams, the league tightened its protocols earlier this month to try to tamp down the spread of the virus. In a sign those changes are working, the NBA saw only one new positive test this week in its weekly joint announcement with the National Basketball Players Association on Wednesday afternoon.
That is down significantly from the past two weeks, which saw the two sides report 11 and 16 positive tests, respectively.