Sunday night’s Philadelphia 76ers-Oklahoma City Thunder game was delayed due to contact tracking within the Sixers, the NBA announced.
The game was postponed according to the league’s health and safety guidelines, as the 76ers does not meet the minimum requirement of eight players.
Contact tracking is connected to Saturday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Grizzlies listed Jonas Valanciunas as eliminated for Monday’s game against the Phoenix Suns as the center entered the league’s health and safety protocols. The Grizzlies faced the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, before their game on Friday was postponed due to contact tracking within the Wolves. Karl-Anthony Towns announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
The Sixers have been fighting a postponement for more than a week after guard Seth Curry tested positive for COVID-19 on January 7. They played with only eight players on January 9 against the Nuggets.
They used only nine players in Saturday’s defeat and had six listed in their injury report. Two were eliminated due to health and safety protocols (Curry and Vincent Poirier) with Joel Embiid (knee), Furkan Korkmaz (groin) and Mike Scott (knee) sitting with injuries. That would leave six other players out on Sunday because of contact tracking.
The Sixers are scheduled to host the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.