The Philadelphia 76ers’ game against the Denver Nuggets will be played on Saturday as scheduled, sources said to ESPN, after several Sixers players were part of the contact tracking.
The 76ers are expected to have nine players eligible for Saturday’s game, including three released from the protocol: Joel Embiid, Danny Green and Paul Reed, sources told ESPN.
The release of the health and safety protocol does not guarantee that Embiid will play on Saturday, only that he counts as an eligible player for the eight players necessary for Philadelphia to avoid the postponement.
Several Sixers – including Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle, Shake Milton and Vincent Poirier – remain on health and safety protocols and will remain quarantined indefinitely, the sources said.
The Saturday afternoon game had the chance to be the second postponement of the NBA season’s coronavirus game, due to the shared proximity of some 76ers players to guard Seth Curry, who tested positive for COVID-19, sources told ESPN.
The Sixers also tested positive for a team member on Friday, a source told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
Denver has its own COVID-19 problems. The Nuggets flew to Philadelphia on Friday without young and talented striker Michael Porter Jr., who remains out of health and safety protocols indefinitely, the sources said.