NBA cancels Rockets vs Thunder season opener due to COVID-19 concerns

 

Houston, TX (Wednesday, Dec, 23, 2020) The NBA has made the decision to postpone Wednesday’s season opener between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder due to COVID-19 concerns.

The league announced the news Wednesday afternoon in a statement:

“The National Basketball Association game scheduled for tonight between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center has been postponed in accordance with the league’s Health and Safety Protocols. Three Houston Rockets players have returned tests that were either positive or inconclusive for coronavirus under the NBA’s testing program. Following the contact tracing protocol, four other players are quarantined at this time.

“Additionally, James Harden is unavailable due to a violation of the Health and Safety Protocols. All other Rockets players were tested again today, and all returned negative results. Houston has one additional player who is unavailable due to injury.As such, the Rockets do not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with tonight’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.”