Sixers should not play Nuggets amid COVID scare

The Sixers and Nuggets are slated to tip off at 3 PM E.T.

The Philadelphia 76ers are apparently scheduled to play basketball at 3 PM E.T. despite the recent COVID-positive test of Seth Curry, who was with the team Thursday night when he learned of his diagnosis. Curry also played with the Sixers on Wednesday, just one day prior to returning a positive test.

In the NBA, you are mandated to play games if you have eight available players. After “contact tracing” took place in New York overnight, the Sixers apparently have nine available players for this afternoon’s showdown with the 3-5 Denver Nuggets.

If the league truly cares about player safety and wants to display true diligence in its effort to combat COVID, there is no reason Philadelphia should suit up in this game. You could even argue Washington, who played Philadelphia on Wednesday, and Brooklyn, who played Philadelphia on Thursday, should undergo strict contact tracing themselves.

The Sixers had a COVID-positive player in the locker room and on the bench during a game. While Curry wore a mask and left the game as soon as his positive test was confirmed, he was still in the orbit of teammates for prolonged stretches.

Not to question the validity of the NBA’s contact tracing, which I’m sure is done in conjunction with medical experts, but Embiid was cleared to play. Here he is sitting directly next to Curry, unmasked, while Curry is positive with coronavirus. That qualifies as contact, methinks.

And, in another twist, a new sequence of reports has dropped in the middle of my writing this article. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons will both be listed out with injuries — “back tightness” and “left knee swelling,” respectively — but Mike Scott, who was previously listed as out, will be upgraded to available. That leaves the Sixers at eight available players, which still mandates that the game be played.

Whether this is Embiid and Simmons pushing for the league to cancel the game or Philadelphia’s stars are truly injured, this continues to cast an ugly light on the NBA. COVID can incubate for multiple days before returning a positive test, and again, the entire Sixers team was within spitting distance of Curry (quite literally) on Thursday.

The product will already be irrevocably damaged with only eight available players and none of Philadelphia’s star power. The NBA also left the second half of its schedule open in the event of necessary postponements and rearrangements. Take advantage of that flexibility, and don’t put the players — and by extension their families — in harm’s way.