Wednesday’s Raptors at Bulls game and Thursday’s Nets at Trail Blazers contest have been postponed, as the NBA announced that coronavirus-struck Brooklyn and Toronto do not have the required eight players available for their games.
Raptors forward OG Anunoby has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, putting Toronto at eight players in the protocols. Toronto also had its game against the Orlando Magic postponed earlier this week.
The Bulls have had three games postponed this season, including two against the Raptors. Five Bulls players have cleared the league’s protocols this week, but Devon Dotson was added before Wednesday’s postponement.
There had been six games on Wednesday’s schedule, including Raptors-Bulls. For those games alone, at least 48 players were ruled out because of virus-related issues.
This is the third straight Nets game that has been postponed over the past week. Games against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday and Washington Wizards on Tuesday also were called off.
The Nets had 10 players in the league’s health and safety protocols as of Tuesday, including stars Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. That is the highest known figure for any team in the league.
Nine games in total have been postponed, but the NBA has no plans to pause the season, commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this week.
Brooklyn’s next scheduled game is Christmas Day against the Los Angeles Lakers (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN), although the NBA has told teams that shifting some game times is a possibility for the day’s planned five-game slate if coronavirus-related issues force changes to the lineup.
Information from ESPN’s Jamal Collier and The Associated Press was used in this report.