The Sixers learned Thursday night of a player testing positive for COVID-19 and are quarantining at their hotel in New York, a source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The Athletic's Shams Charania first reported the news.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports the player is Seth Curry, and that Curry spent the first quarter of the Sixers' 122-109 loss to the Nets on the bench before the team was told of his positive test.
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Curry missed Thursday's game with left ankle soreness. He'd played in each of the Sixers' first eight games, including Wednesday against the Wizards. Head coach Doc Rivers said pregame he believed Curry's injury was "day-to-day."
The NBA and NBPA announced earlier Thursday that four new players of 498 tested since Dec. 30 returned positive COVID-19 tests. To that point, no Sixers had missed a game because of health and safety protocols. Tyrese Maxey and Mike Scott were not with the team at the start of training camp after positive COVID-19 test results. Both players cleared the NBA's protocols and returned.
Before the season, Rivers said he was "very concerned" about whether the NBA would be able to safely play the 2020-21 campaign outside of a "bubble" environment. The league only released the first half of this season's schedule to account for the possibility of postponed games. The Sixers' next scheduled game is Saturday afternoon vs. the Nuggets.
"If we miss three or four players, we’re in trouble, especially with the amount of games," Rivers said. "We’re playing three and four games a week, so if one of our guys or two of our key guys get the virus and they miss 10 days to 14 days, that can be eight games. In a 72-game season, that can knock you out of the playoffs. That’s a concern. Our guys’ health is a concern. And that’s tough. As a coach, you want to go in with your team concerns being more (about) basketball, and I think every coach’s concerns right now are probably non-basketball.”
NBA
The Nets' Kevin Durant was out for Thursday's game because he was required to quarantine after reportedly being exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19.