The Philadelphia 76ers‘ game against the Denver Nuggets will be played Saturday as scheduled, sources tell ESPN, after several Sixers players were part of contact tracing.
The 76ers are expected to have nine eligible players for Saturday’s game, including three cleared from protocol: Joel Embiid, Danny Green and Paul Reed, sources tell ESPN.
Clearance from the Health and Safety protocol does not guarantee that Embiid will play Saturday, just that he counts as an eligible player toward the eight necessary for Philadelphia to avoid postponement.
Saturday afternoon’s game had a chance to be the NBA season’s second coronavirus-related game postponement, due to the shared close proximity of some 76ers players to guard Seth Curry, who tested positive for COVID-19, sources told ESPN.
The Sixers also had one staff member test positive Friday, according to a source.
Denver has its own COVID-19 complications. The Nuggets flew into Philadelphia on Friday without talented young forward Michael Porter Jr., who continues to be sidelined under health and safety protocols for an indefinite period of time, sources said.