PORTLAND, Ore. — Two more Trail Blazers players entered COVID-19 health and safety protocols, according to a report Thursday from The Athletic's Shams Charania. That briefly put the number of Blazers players in quarantine at nine, before it dropped back down to seven after Charania reported about two hours later that backup guards Dennis Smith Jr. and Ben McLemore were exiting protocols and would rejoin the team. Head coach Chauncey Billups is also in quarantine.
The latest two players to be benched are Anfernee Simons and Brandon Williams. Williams and players Jarron Cumberland, Cameron McGriff and Reggie Perry all joined the team on 10-day contracts earlier this week.
The Blazers aren't alone in feeling the pressure from the latest wave of COVID-19 cases, which has led to huge spikes in case rates both locally and nationally, likely due to the more-contagious omicron variant.
Several NBA games have been postponed in the past two weeks because one of the scheduled teams had too many players in isolation, and teams throughout the league have turned to 10-day contracts to bring in replacement players.
The Blazers reported in September that the team was 100% vaccinated, and the team managed to avoid any COVID-related absences in the 2021-22 season until last Friday, when Smith Jr. and Trendon Watford entered health and safety protocols.
After that, the losses came quickly; Robert Covington, McLemore and Keljin Blevins entered quarantine on Saturday, followed by Jusuf Nurkic and Cody Zeller on Sunday.
Billups began isolating on Monday, according to ESPN, and assistant coach Scott Brooks took over as acting head coach starting with the Blazers' Monday night game against the Dallas Mavericks.
The NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols originally required players who test positive to isolate for 10 days before they could be cleared to return, but ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Monday that the waiting period had been shortened to six days for vaccinated and asymptomatic players.
The report came shortly before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its own updated guidance stating that people who test positive can stop isolating after five days, rather than 10, if they're asymptomatic or their symptoms have abated — although they should keep wearing a mask for 5 more days.
The Blazers are scheduled to face off against the Los Angeles Lakers in L.A. on Friday, followed by hosting the Atlanta Hawks on Monday and the Miami Heat on Wednesday at the Moda Center. Smith Jr. and McLemore are listed as probable for Friday's game against the Lakers.
Smith Jr., a 6-foot-2 point guard, is averaging 5.8 points, 3.1 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 17.4 minutes per game. McLemore, a 6-3 shooting guard, is averaging 6.6 points and shooting 42.5% from the 3-point line in 13.1 minutes per game.
