December 20, (THEWILL) – The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Basketball Players’ Association (NBPA) have reached a deal that will allow clubs to sign one replacement player for every rostered player who tests positive for COVID-19, and will oblige teams to sign a replacement player if they have two positive tests.
Furthermore, the total number of appearances that two-way players can make during the season will no longer be limited. Teams will reportedly be unable to add a replacement player if they can field a roster of 13 players or have fewer than four players injured.
The report comes as a growing number of NBA players are subjected to the league’s health and safety regulations around the coronavirus. The league had already postponed seven games as of Sunday evening.
However, COVID-19 concerns in professional sports are not restricted to the NBA.
In the National Hockey League (NHL), around 70 players have implemented their own health and safety rules, and several games have been postponed as a result. The league has also implemented stronger measures, including daily testing, and has put a halt to all cross-border travel between the US and Canada until January 1.
In the meantime, due to coronavirus outbreaks on rosters, the National Football League (NFL) moved one game to Monday night (Las Vegas Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns, originally scheduled for Saturday) and two games to Tuesday (Philadelphia Eagles vs. Washington Football Team and Seattle Seahawks vs. Los Angeles Rams, both originally scheduled for Sunday).
Nearly two years after the COVID-19 pandemic halted sports, the Omicron variant and an increase in cases associated with sports have resurfaced as a major concern. As the league and the NBPA work to avoid a temporary halt in play, NBA franchises may be compelled to field teams with multiple replacement players.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
