Philadelphia 76ers are prime example of COVID uncertainty

The Philadelphia 76ers’ 2019-20 season is already on the rocks.

We were always going to reach a crossroads of safety and profit this season. The NBA decided to let teams play in their home arenas, opting against the “bubble” system that so successfully prevented COVID last season. Already, a rash of cases and contact traces has permeated the league.

Without a bubble, it’s difficult for the NBA to honestly ensure the safety of its players. We are still unsure of the long-term effects of coronavirus, and in the short term, players are still at risk of infecting teammates, family members, and team staffers. COVID is highly contagious, and there is no way to maintain perfect social distancing in a crowded locker room, on the sideline, or during a live basketball game. It was always a ticking time bomb.

There is no greater example of the uncertainty surrounding this season than the Philadelphia 76ers, who played with eight active (and seven available) players in Saturday afternoon’s loss to Denver.

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The Sixers were hit by a positive COVID test earlier in the week, when Seth Curry received word of a positive test in the middle of the first quarter against Brooklyn. That was Wednesday. He was on the bench and in the locker room, masked but still capable of spreading the virus. The Sixers still finished that game, and it came only one day after Curry played 36 minutes against the Wizards on Tuesday.

To make matters worse, the Wizards went on to play the Celtics. Jayson Tatum tested positive for coronavirus soon thereafter, and now Bradley Beal — who spoke to Tatum in close proximity during their Friday game — is in quarantine as part of the NBA’s vague contact tracing guidelines.

It is strange, then, that Joel Embiid was not immediately disqualified and sent into quarantine after he was seen sitting directly next to Curry in the Nets game. And by extension, it is inexplicable that every player who shares a court or a locker room with an infected player is not sent into quarantine.

Every Wizard who shared the floor with Curry, and then Tatum, was at risk and in contact with a potential vector of transmission. Every Net who played the Sixers one day after playing the Wizards — who was on the court while Curry straddled the sidelines — was at risk and in contact. Kevin Durant just finished a seven-day mandatory quarantine due to contact tracing.

The NBA has made clear it will not take the extreme measures necessary to ensure complete safety of its players. An amateur internet sleuth — or even a casual viewer of the Nets game — could connect Embiid to Curry as part of “contact tracing.” There was no reason Embiid should have been cleared to play in the Denver game, even if he eventually missed it due to “back tightness.”

The Sixers withheld Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle, Shake Milton, and Vincent Poirier on Saturday. The Celtics were missing seven players on Saturday due to NBA protocols. The Wizards are without their star two-guard.

Philadelphia’s next game is Monday, and we do not know whether Harris, Thybulle, and Milton can re-join the rotation. With Furkan Korkmaz out and Mike Scott still hampered by injury, even the return of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons cannot ensure the Sixers a fully functioning rotation.

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While it is not unheard of for teams to play with only eight players, it is rare. The NBA is well on its way to multiple scenarios of the same variety this season. There is no way to guarantee players will not contract the virus outside the arena, and we already have evidence of players bringing it inside the arena. With blatantly selective and unthorough contact tracing, it is impossible to have confidence in the safe and competitively balanced continuation of this season. The league is staring down a steep and slippery slope. How will it keep its footing?