On Jan. 4, Utah Jazz forward Ingles triggered an NBA health and safety deal to miss the Jazz's next away game against the Denver Nuggets, with a comeback time to be determined. This is the first time this season that the Jazz have had a player quarantined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it means that none of the players from the league's 30 teams have been spared this season. Previously, players from 29 other teams have been "recruited" in succession.
The most recent month has been the most difficult time for the NBA. In the past three weeks, about 250 players have triggered health and safety agreements, more than 10 players from multiple teams have been quarantined, and more than 100 players have been forced to sign emergency 10-day contracts using "hardship exceptions". That situation eased this week, with about 125 players entering the deal last week, compared to a drop back to 75 for now.
The Chicago Bulls were the "hardest hit zone" for recruits, with more than 10 players triggering the deal at one point, and the first team in the league to postpone the game due to a lack of manpower (the minimum participation standard was 8), and the Bulls' two star players, DeRozan and LaVine, missed 3 and 2 games respectively. The Bulls player missed 1182 minutes due to the pandemic, ranking first in the league. The Brooklyn Nets didn't play in the nearly week before Christmas last year, also because there were too many players in quarantine.
According to statistics, a total of 11 games in the NBA were postponed due to the epidemic in December last year, and the work of rearranging the schedule has been completed. NBA President Adam Xiaohua said in a previous interview that the league has no plans to suspend the game, and they plan to learn to coexist with the new crown virus. Xiao Hua hopes that more players can play a reinforcing injection to prevent the increasingly spreading Olmikron strain.
(Intern Editor: Zhan Yujing)