Pistons-Nuggets postponed minutes before start for COVID-19 contact tracing

Tom Gatto

Pistons-Nuggets postponed minutes before start for COVID-19 contact tracing image

The NBA postponed Monday's game between the Pistons and Nuggets in Denver just minutes before tipoff because ongoing COVID-19 contact tracing left the Pistons without the required eight available players on their roster.

No makeup date has been announced. The Pistons are scheduled to play Tuesday against the Jazz in Salt Lake City.

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An inconclusive coronavirus test result triggered an extra round of contact tracing among the Pistons on Monday, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported.

This is the second postponement of the season for the Pistons and the first for the Nuggets. Detroit's scheduled game vs. the Wizards on Jan. 15 was called off because contact tracing left the Wizards without eight available players.

In all, 24 NBA games have been postponed in the 2020-21 season because of the league's health and safety protocols. The majority of those games will be moved to the season's second half, which is set to begin in March.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.