(Photo by Jeenah Moon / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
NEW YORK – Sunday’s scheduled NBA game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder was postponed by the league hours before tip-off due to COVID-19 safety protocol issues.
The visiting Sixers did not have the minimum eight players available for the game due to ongoing COVID-19 contract tracing within the club.
Cameroonian star center Joel Embiid of the 76ers had been ruled out for the contest due to a sore right knee that sidelined him from Philadelphia’s 106-104 loss at Memphis.
The Sixers rank fourth in the Eastern Conference at 9-5 while the Thunder are among four 6-6 clubs sharing eighth in the Western Conference.
The 76ers-Thunder game was the second of the day to be postponed after a Cleveland at Washington contest had been delayed due to six COVID-19 positives on the Wizards’ roster.
It marks the seventh day in the past eight in which the NBA has had at least one game postponed due to COVID-19 safety protocols in a season that began four weeks ago and features teams playing in home arenas.