Hawks vs. Suns game added to list of postponements Wednesday

You’ve probably heard this before. The game Wednesday night between the Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns has been postponed due to health and safety protocols, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. This is the 7th game to be postponed this season because of concerns surrounding Covid-19, which has forced teams to not be able to field 8-man rosters. The Suns had placed rookie center Jalen Smith in health and safety protocols on Tuesday. The team hadn’t reported any additional players on that list.

This is the third game on Wednesday to be postponed, joining the Boston Celtics vs. Orlando Magic and Utah Jazz vs. Washington Wizards. So we’re down to seven games for Wednesday night after this news. The NBA released new and stricter health and safety protocols on Tuesday, which are supposed to help stop the current crisis in the League. That is still to be be seen, though the NBA appears adamant about not stopping play to let this die down a bit. We’ll see if that changes given the amount of basketball that has had to be canceled the last week and a half.

Woj adds that contact tracing with Phoenix played a factor in the cancellation. The Suns played the Wizards on Monday and Washington has had to place players in health and safety protocols on Tuesday. Their game was canceled and as a result, the Suns and Hawks will not play. We could see a similar type of trickle-down effect since the schedule is condensed and teams have been playing teams that have dealt with players either testing positive or being placed in protocols.