Durant, Irving Latest to Enter NBA COVID Protocols

The NBA’s COVID Health and Safety Protocol list continues to grow as the league is suffering a rapid expansion of pandemic-related infection. The latest news is that Brooklyn Nets stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have both entered Health and Safety Protocols. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweeted the news about Durant, and later Irving. The latest tallies leave Brooklyn with nine players under protocols, making them one of multiple teams losing half or more of their roster to COVID precautions.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have also reported that Evan Mobley is entering protocols. The Dallas Mavericks have canceled their upcoming Sunday practice.

Even before that round of news, ESPN writer Baxter Holmes tweeted that 70 NBA players have entered protocols in December out of 86 total, 50 of them in the week between December 12th and 18th.

The NBA is slated to play five nationally-televised games on Christmas Day, next Saturday. This includes the marquee matchup of the Nets versus LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Traditionally, Christmas is the most visible day of the NBA regular season. The league is adjusting its testing and masking rules, but not until the 26th.

We will update this post as more news becomes available.