Australian teen star Josh Giddey has joined Oklahoma City Thunder‘s lengthy list of players and staff out of action under the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Giddey, who leads the Thunder in rebounds and assists, will likely miss at least the next three games in Oklahoma City’s schedule.
The 19-year-old was placed under health and safety protocols today along with head coach Mark Daigneault and veteran teammate Derrick Favors, according to an ESPN report.
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With Giddey and Favors out of action, they now join Darius Bazley, Tre Mann, Aleksej Pokusevski and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl as the six current Thunder players under COVID-19 protocols.
Meanwhile, the NBA and its Players Association yesterday agreed to a major overhaul of its COVID-19 health protocols amid rising outbreaks among teams across the league.
The past two weeks in the NBA has seen more than 170 players enter the NBA’s health and safety protocols, in which individuals have been forced to miss at least 10 days before testing out of quarantine.
NBA superstars – Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden, LaMelo Ball – are just a small number of high-profile players who have missed extended periods this month due to team outbreaks.
Under revised protocols, players can now leave quarantine after six days so long as COVID-19 testing data can prove they’re no longer at risk of being infectious.
Outbreaks have crippled nearly every team in the competition, with teams like Oklahoma City, Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland, Boston, Brooklyn, Minnesota, Orlando, and Portland currently all missing six or more players due to COVID-19 protocols.
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