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JAMES Harden will be in quarantine until Friday (Saturday Manila time), which means the Houston Rockets star and three-time NBA scoring champion could be eligible to play Saturday when his team finally opens its season in Portland.
The Rockets were scheduled to play Oklahoma City on Wednesday, a game postponed due to a variety of coronavirus problems. Among them was Harden declared unavailable to play after the NBA determined he violated the league’s health and safety protocols.
Meanwhile, the league announced Thursday that of the 558 players tested for COVID-19 in the week beginning Dec. 16, there were two new confirmed positive player tests.
But the Rockets-Thunder game is the only game postponed so far this season.
“None of this was predictable or ideal,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Thursday after his team’s practice in Oklahoma City.
The Thunder will now open Saturday in Charlotte.
“I am really satisfied with the mindset that the entire organization, including the team, adopted under the circumstances,” said Daigneault.
NBA medical personnel determined that Harden needed to be quarantined for four days, beginning Tuesday, before he can return to practice, games or team activities. The league was still checking to see if any other quarantine decisions were needed for other Rockets players.
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By NBA rules, a team needs eight healthy players to play, and the Rockets fell short on Wednesday. They have 16 players on the list and nine were left out: one was injured; three returned tests that were positive or inconclusive for coronavirus; four other players are quarantined as part of virus protocols; and Harden was not eligible.
Harden was fined $ 50,000 Wednesday by the NBA, which said he violated protocols. The league prohibits attending indoor social gatherings of 15 or more people or entering bars, lounges, clubs or similar establishments.
The video of the disgruntled star appeared on social media, where he was shown without a mask at a crowded party in a private event space Monday night. Harden, in a since deleted Instagram post, explained why he was at the event.
He wrote: “One thing after another. I went to show my friend love at her event (not at a strip club) because she is becoming the boss and she is putting her people in a position of success and now it is a problem. Every day is something different. No matter how many times people try to drag my name underneath, you can’t. Real people always end up on top. “
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