Players showed up to the Ball Arena in Denver Monday night, warmed up, got dressed to take the court, then minutes before the start the league postponed the game.
“Because of ongoing contact tracing within the Pistons, the team does not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with tonight’s game against the Nuggets,” the league said in its statement. In reality, it was one positive/inconclusive test reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, and the league is putting entire teams on the bench when that happens now to prevent the spread.
Detroit returned a positive/inconclusive coronavirus test on a player, sources tell ESPN. Pistons were watching pregame film, preparing for game with Nuggets when they learned of postponement. League’s recently made decision to park teams in this situation over a single test. https://t.co/LsaOFInUFK
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 2, 2021
It’s unclear what this will mean for Detroit going forward. The Pistons are in the middle of a five-game road trip and are scheduled to play in Utah on Tuesday, then Phoenix on Friday before heading to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers Sunday.
This is the 23rd game postponed this season because of the coronavirus, with 24 teams having games effected. It will likely be made up in the second half of the season, although the NBA has started to shift some first-half games around as well.