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The game Monday night between the Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans has been postponed due to concerns surrounding Covid-19, per Shams Charania. The Mavericks had a positive test come up with PF Maxi Kleber. Due to contact tracing, the team was also set to be without Josh Richardson, Jalen Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith. Clearly, there were more issues due to contact tracing that held the Mavericks short of the 8 players required to field a team for a game.
Shortly after Shams dropped this report, the Celtics-Bulls game for Tuesday was also postponed.
Two NBA games have been postponed: Dallas Mavericks-New Orleans Pelicans tonight and Boston Celtics-Chicago Bulls on Tuesday.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 11, 2021
This is the second game in as many days to be postponed due to Covid-19. The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat were unable to play Sunday night. The Covid-19 and contact tracing has become more of an issue the past week with teams suffering massive losses due to health and safety protocols. As a result, teams haven’t been able to field competitive teams and it’s impacting the product on the court. The NBA has stated it will not pause the season but something’s gotta give. It doesn’t look like things are getting any better.
The Mavericks were expected to get PF Krispaps Porzingis (knee) back in the lineup for his season debut tonight. That won’t be the case with the game on pause. The Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and Mavericks have been three teams impacted most by the Covid-19 contact tracing and protocols. The Memphis Grizzlies have also had a positive test and Washington Wizards had to hold out Bradley Beal over the weekend due to contact tracing.