Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Monday, according to the basketball league.
The Blazers said the team will be coached by assistant Scott Brooks, a longtime head coach, during Billups’ absence.
Portland — with seven players in the protocols as well — hosts Dallas Monday night. It will be the Trail Blazers’ first game since Dec. 21; their game that had been scheduled for Dec. 23 against Brooklyn was postponed because of virus issues decimating the Nets’ roster. That was one of nine games postponed by the NBA so far this season.
The count of players in the NBA’s protocols remained around 120 on Monday afternoon, with no fewer than 63 players ruled out from among the seven games on the day’s schedule because of virus-related issues.
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups yells to this players in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021.
Matthew Hinton / AP
Teams that have been hit particularly hard by virus-related issues have been able to cobble together rosters over the last couple weeks primarily by signing players to 10-day hardship deals.
NBA players who test positive for COVID-19 now have a quicker path to return to play, after the league completed a significant update to its health and safety protocols on Monday.
The biggest change: Isolation periods for players who test positive may now be significantly shortened — down to six days from what has been the customary 10 — provided those players are asymptomatic and meet other testing standards. Teams were told of the new protocols Monday in a memo sent by the league, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.