(Reuters) – National Basketball Association (NBA) has said it does not intend to suspend the 2020-21 season for some time, despite teams struggling to deal with the impact of COVID cases and injuries -19 rising.
Sunday’s game between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat was postponed because the eight league-led players were unavailable after contact detection protocols left them short.
Miami earlier said guard Avery Bradley would miss the game because of the NBA’s pandemic health and safety protocols while only eight players would have been in Boston, with nine players missing out on due to COVID-19 injury and protocols.
“We expected a game delay this season and we designed the schedule accordingly,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN.
“There are no plans to stop the season, and we will continue to be guided by our medical experts and our health and safety protocols. ”
The Philadelphia 76ers, who faced the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, were also among the eight least active players due to injuries and virus concerns.
The NBA had canceled the game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets last month.
The current season has a lower 72-game record.
The 2019-20 season ended in October last year after a four-month delay due to the pandemic, with teams competing in biosecurity bubbles at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
The Los Angeles Lakers captured their 17th recorded NBA Championship on Oct. 12 with a victory over the heat.
Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Edited by Peter Rutherford