Washington Wizards Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southeast Notes: Wizards, Gallinari, Ball, Heat, Oladipo

January 17th, 2021 at 7:27pm CST by JD Shaw

The NBA still doesn’t know how the Wizards‘ COVID-19 outbreak started, with six players testing positive and four games recently being postponed, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports writes.

The outbreak, which is considered to be the worst of the season to date, has left the Wizards unable to produce the league-required eight players needed to play. As Hughes notes, the team is still unsure of how it started despite an extensive contract tracing process.

“We have players that are out on the floor unmasked during the games,” general manager Tommy Sheppard said. “That’s an obvious thing. They have exposure to each other. Sometimes on the bench, players will pull their masks down and talk to each other, things like that. The contact tracing is very necessary, but it’s also difficult because it could have been anywhere at any time. The fact it hasn’t jumped the wall and it hasn’t extended past players kind of makes you, at least common sense-wise, would make you believe it’s happening in contact out on the court.”

The Wizards’ games against the Cavaliers on Sunday and Monday have also been postponed because of the virus.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Hawks are listing Danilo Gallinari as doubtful to play in Monday’s game against the Wolves, with the veteran forward last seeing action on Dec. 30 due to a right ankle sprain. Gallinari has progressed to half-court individual activities and is now being re-introduced to contact activity, the team announced (Twitter link).
Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer examines how much the Hornets truly trust LaMelo Ball and what the team is currently missing. Ball, drafted third overall by the team in the fall, is currently averaging 11.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game off the bench.
Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel explores whether the Rockets could still entice the Heat with a potential trade, only this time with Victor Oladipo. Oladipo and Miami have long been linked to one another, with the 28-year-old set to enter unrestricted free agency at season’s end.

Wizards GM Confirms That Six Players Have Coronavirus

January 15th, 2021 at 5:38pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Wizards have six players who have tested positive for COVID-19 and three others under health and safety protocols, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets.

GM Tommy Sheppard revealed those totals during a press conference. Coach Scott Brooks said he hopes the team can start practicing sometime next week.

Sheppard is optimistic that players who have tested negative can come in for individual workouts as soon as Saturday, Bontemps adds in a separate tweet. No staff member has tested positive.

Out of the six players who have tested positive, four are asymptomatic, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN tweets.

The Wizards have been forced to postpone a number of games. They were supposed to play the Jazz on Wednesday and the Pistons on Friday. Earlier in the day, the league announced that Washington’s back-to-back games on Sunday and Monday against Cleveland had been postponed as well.

The next game on the club’s schedule is next Wednesday at Charlotte. All of the league’s postponements can be found here.

Wizards Promote Amber Nichols To G League GM

January 15th, 2021 at 2:22pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards are promoting Amber Nichols, naming her the general manager of the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s G League affiliate, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Nichols, who had previously been the Go-Go’s assistant GM, becomes the second female general manager in the NBAGL, joining Tori Miller of the College Park Skyhawks.

The Capital City Go-Go opted out of this season’s G League bubble, so the team won’t be in action again until 2021/22. However, Nichols figures to be keeping a close eye in the coming weeks on the Erie BayHawks, New Orleans’ affiliate. The Wizards are sending four affiliate players and a player development coach to Erie for the upcoming NBAGL season.

NBA Postpones Two Wizards/Cavaliers Games

January 15th, 2021 at 1:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Two more upcoming Wizards games won’t be played as scheduled, according to the NBA. The league announced today in a press release that the Wizards/Cavaliers games on the schedule for Sunday (January 17) and Monday (January 18) have been postponed due to health and safety protocols.

The games are being pushed back because the Wizards don’t have the required minimum of eight players available. A report this morning indicated that the team has had five players test positive for COVID-19 this week. Others are believed to be self-isolating as well due to the league’s contact tracing protocols.

These are the third and fourth consecutive postponements for the Wizards, who didn’t have enough players available to face the Jazz on Wednesday night or the Pistons tonight.

The next game on the club’s schedule is next Wednesday at Charlotte. It’s possible some players currently in the contact tracing protocols could be cleared by then, giving Washington enough players to avoid a fifth straight postponement. We’ll have to wait to see how the next few days play out though.

The NBA has now had to postpone a dozen games this season, including 11 since Sunday. We’re keeping tabs on the full list of postponements right here.

Wizards Notes: G League, Bell, Beal, Center

January 15th, 2021 at 9:01am CST by Luke Adams

Having agreed to share some of the Erie BayHawks’ operating costs with the Pelicans this season, the Wizards will also get the opportunity to embed one of their coaches with the G League squad, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic, who tweets that player development assistant Mike Williams will be part of Erie’s staff.

Additionally, four preseason Exhibit 10 contract recipients who would have become the Wizards’ affiliate players if the Capital City Go-Go had been part of the revamped G League season will now join the BayHawks instead. As Ava Wallace of The Washington Post tweets, those four players are Jordan Bell, Yoeli Childs, Caleb Homesley, and Marlon Taylor.

Here’s more on the Wizards:

Michael Pina of Sports Illustrated makes a case for why the Wizards should seriously consider trading Bradley Beal sooner rather than later. Pina wrote his column before James Harden was moved, but that deal should only make Beal a more attractive trade target for the teams that missed out on Harden.
Could the Wizards turn to free agency in an effort to fortify their center position following Thomas Bryant‘s season-ending ACL tear? Frank Urbina of HoopsHype identifies six available players the team should consider if it wants to sign a big man.
The Wizards’ 3-8 record puts them near the very bottom of the NBA standings, but the unusual nature of this season makes it too early to rush to judgement, argues Ben Golliver of The Washington Post.
In case you missed it, five Wizards players have reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, potentially jeopardizing the team’s Sunday and Monday games against Cleveland. The Wizards have already had two games (Wednesday’s and Friday’s) postponed this week due to the coronavirus.

Five Wizards Players Have Tested Positive For COVID-19

January 15th, 2021 at 8:04am CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards are now up to five players who have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Shams Charania and Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).

A report on Thursday indicated that a third Wizards player had returned a positive COVID-19 test, so two more players have since joined that group. It’s unclear exactly how many other players on the roster have been affected by the NBA’s contact tracing protocols.

The Wizards’ home game vs. Utah on Wednesday was postponed due to the team’s lack of available players, and tonight’s game in Detroit won’t be played as scheduled either.

At this point, it seems increasingly likely that the Wizards’ two games against Cleveland on Sunday and Monday will have to be postponed as well, though nothing has been officially announced on that front yet.

The NBA and its teams aren’t announcing which players test positive for COVID-19, so unless it’s reported in the coming days, we won’t get much clarity on which Wizards players are out until the team has to issue its next injury report. We do know that Rui Hachimura and Moritz Wagner were placed into the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Tuesday.

Another Wizards Player Tests Positive For COVID-19

January 14th, 2021 at 9:54am CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards have another positive coronavirus test, giving them three players who have tested positive, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who doesn’t identify the player. The team already had games postponed for Wednesday and Friday due to a shortage of players.

On Tuesday, Washington’s Rui Hachimura and Moritz Wagner were placed into the NBA’s health and safety protocols. The amount of time they have to spend in quarantine hasn’t been determined yet. Other team members are subject to contact tracing, but their names haven’t been released.

Washington’s schedule may be contributing to their COVID-19 issues as they have recently faced the Celtics, Sixers and Heat, who are all short-handed because of the virus. The Wizards’ next scheduled game will be Sunday afternoon against the Cavaliers if they have eight available players by then.

Two More NBA Games Postponed

January 13th, 2021 at 5:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

Health and safety protocols have forced a pair of Friday games to be postponed, the NBA announced in a press release (Twitter link). The game between the Wizards and Pistons in Detroit and the contest between the Warriors and Suns in Phoenix have both been called off.

“Because of ongoing contact tracing within the Wizards and Suns, the teams will not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with Friday night’s games,” the league stated.

Washington and Phoenix, which played each other Monday, both had games postponed tonight for the same reason. The Wizards were scheduled to host the Jazz, while the Suns had a home game with the Hawks.

The latest postponements bring the total to nine for the season, with eight of those coming since Sunday. This marks the first time the league has postponed a game two days in advance.

Wednesday’s Suns/Hawks Game Postponed

January 13th, 2021 at 10:29am CST by Luke Adams

Wednesday night’s game in Phoenix between the Suns and Hawks has been postponed, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

As of Tuesday night, the Suns only had one player (Jalen Smith) listed as being out due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols. The Hawks are missing several players due to injuries, but had no players in the protocols.

However, Phoenix’s most recent game took place on Monday in Washington, and the Wizards had their Wednesday game postponed as a result of having too many players tied up in a contact tracing investigation. Sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that the Wizards have positive COVID-19 tests on their roster and that the contact tracing affecting Washington has now extended to the Suns.

The total number of postponed NBA games this week is beginning to add up. After postponing a game between Houston and Oklahoma City back on December 23, the NBA was able to play all of its games as scheduled up until this Sunday, when the Celtics/Heat contest was affected.

Today’s Hawks/Suns postponement represents the sixth time since Sunday that has a game has had to be pushed back, and the seventh time in total this season. Three contests (Hawks/Suns; Celtics/Magic; and Jazz/Wizards) that were initially on the schedule for tonight won’t be played.

Wednesday’s Jazz/Wizards Game Postponed

January 12th, 2021 at 6:14pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA is postponing tomorrow’s scheduled game between the Jazz and the Wizards, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Wizards will not have the minimum eight available players needed to participate as a result of coronavirus-related contact tracing protocols, Charania notes in a separate tweet.

This announcement marks the sixth game to be postponed during the 2020/21 season’s first 23 days, as Marc Stein of the New York Times points out (via Twitter). Tomorrow’s game between the Celtics and Magic was also postponed, as was yesterday’s game between the Mavericks and the Pelicans; the Sunday game between the Heat and Celtics; today’s game between the Celtics and Bulls; and the December 23 game between the Rockets and the Thunder.

Earlier today, Washington’s practice was canceled when big men Rui Hachimura and Moritz Wagner were both placed into the NBA’s health and safety protocols. The other affected players have not been announced — it’s unclear so far whether Hachimura, Wagner, and others will be required to undergo a quarantine period of seven days or more.

The 3-8 Wizards’ last game was a 128-107 route of the 7-4 Suns on Monday.