Mavs game against Pelicans postponed as the NBA struggles with interruptions in the COVID-19 schedule

The Mavericks game on Monday night against Pelicans at the American Airlines Center has been delayed because of problems related to COVID-19, the league announced Monday morning.

The Mavericks, on Sunday night, had four players quarantined because of health and safety protocols: Josh Richardson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Jalen Brunson, who remain in Denver, and Maxi Kleber. Dallas closed its training facility on Sunday after the results of the Kleber test.

NBA teams must have at least eight active players to play a game.

The NBA also postponed Tuesday’s game between Boston and Chicago because of the lack of lineup for the Celtics’ COVID-19. In its announcement, the league said it planned to hold a meeting on Monday with the NBA Players Association “on modifying the league’s health and safety protocols”.

So far, the NBA has postponed four games this season, with the Mavericks being the third, while trying to keep its season out of quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.

In the NBA’s latest injury report on Sunday night, 25 players from 16 teams were included in the “health and safety protocols” designation, which the league used in cases of COVID-19 or close contact absences this season. NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement to ESPN on Sunday that “there are no plans to interrupt the season”.

The Mavericks’ interruptions surfaced on Friday, when they learned that a player had tested positive for COVID-19 before the Denver team’s flight, where he defeated the Nuggets in overtime on Thursday night. Richardson, Finney-Smith and Brunson remained in Denver, while the rest of the travel group returned to Dallas.

The team did not train on Friday and did not meet or meet on Saturday until just before the short-handed victory at home over Magic. The Mavericks again did not train on Sunday, when they closed their premises and did not have a shootaround planned before Monday’s game.

This story will be updated.