Los Angeles (AFP)
It did not take long for the Covid-19 to disrupt the new NBA season: the Houston-Oklahoma City match, scheduled for Wednesday as part of the second day, had to be postponed after positive cases within the Rockets.
Seventy-two days after the coronation of the Lakers, which put an end to the last championship in the bubble of Disney World (Florida), the 2020-2021 fiscal year begins badly, while the pandemic has never been so galloping in United States.
If Tuesday's opening went off without a hitch with Brooklyn's inaugural victories over Golden State and the Clippers at the expense of the Lakers, the first problem with the virus came from Houston.
"Three players have passed tests which have been positive or inconclusive for Covid-19 and four other players constituting their contact cases have also been quarantined," said the instance.
In addition, James Harden "is unavailable due to a violation of health protocols," added the NBA which had opened an investigation after the appearance of a video in which the star of the Texas team appeared at a Monday evening, surrounded by several people, without a mask.
As such, the league recommends not to frequent bars, nightclubs and to avoid gatherings of more than 15 people.
- Harden at fault -
"All the other Rockets players were tested again on Wednesday and the results were negative for each one," said the NBA, which justified the postponement of the game against the Thunder because Houston has an additional player unavailable due to from an injury.
"In this case, the Rockets do not have the eight players available required by the league to play this meeting," she concluded.
According to ESPN and The Athletic site, point guard John Wall and pivot DeMarcus Cousins are among the contact cases of rookie Kenyon Martin Jr., and have been sent home to put themselves in preventive "self-isolation".
The three players were on Tuesday in the apartment of one of them where they requested the services of a hairdresser at home.
Since testing positive on Tuesday, Martin Jr. has, again according to the same media, undergone an additional test which turned out negative, just like those passed by Wall and Cousins, the two major rookies of the Rockets at the off-season.
A few days ago, Houston had already recorded a first positive case of Covid, in the person of the back Ben McLemore.
There remains the case of James Harden, who comes a little more poisoning an already hot context in Houston.
The star, who is not a contact case of Martin, was therefore banned from a match by the League, although he denied having been in a strip club.
What the images of the video seem to attest, however.
- "Obstacles" foreseen -
“One thing after another. I went to support my friend at her event (not a strip) because she becomes a patron and puts her people in a position to be successful and apparently that's a problem. days there is something different. No matter how many times people drag my name through the mud. The truth will always triumph, "he defended himself on Instagram.
Without convincing the NBA therefore.
Another negative episode on the liabilities side of "The Beard" who, having expressed the wish to leave Houston in the offseason, did not resume training until late and was involved in an altercation with a teammate.
The start of the season is chaotic for Houston, which tries to rebuild, with or without Harden, after the departure of Russell Westbrook in Washington, but also of the coach Mike D'Antoni who left to assist Steve Nash on the Brooklyn bench.
And for the NBA, it is seven months of a very uncertain season that is starting in the worst possible way, even if his boss Adam Silver said on Tuesday that he expected there to be "obstacles along the way. "reaffirming his confidence" in the league's health protocols.
Anticipating that matches may be postponed because of the virus, it has only published the schedule for the first half of the season, until March 4, to better reprogram them if necessary.
It took him well.
© 2020 AFP