5 Cavs players test positive for COVID-19; CLE-ATL game postponed

It’s safe to say the Cleveland Cavaliers have been one of the NBA’s biggest surprises so far this season, as coming into the season, it was unclear if Cleveland could be a play-in team. Even with a plethora of injuries last season, the Cavaliers did objectively go just 22-50.

Thus far this season, they’ve been very impressive, and regardless of some key absences for recent opponents, Cleveland has won six straight in mostly blowout fashion. Currently, the Cavs are third in the Eastern Conference, and are second in net rating among teams in their last 10 games.

Unfortunately, it’s tough to say how the Cavaliers will fare in upcoming weeks now, because of a reported COVID-19 outbreak within the team. Per a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Cavs had five players recently test positive for the virus, and among those is Jarrett Allen.

Allen has been outstanding for the Cavs this season, as Wojnarowski alluded to, as he’s had a career-best 16.8 points per outing, to go with 10.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. He’s been one of the game’s best finishers this season, has helped anchor Cleveland’s defense, and he’s made considerable strides with his low post game and footwork.

So that’s a blow in itself for the Cavaliers, particularly with Isaac Okoro and Evan Mobley entering protocols in the past few days. With that having been the case, the potential for an outbreak wasn’t unforeseen, though.

And with in mind, it was only a matter of time, one would think, that the Cavs originally scheduled game at the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday could be postponed. That eventually played out as well, per a Wojnarowski report.

Additionally, this report from ESPN’s Bobby Marks legitimized that possibility shortly before, as it was unlikely that a potential hardship exception signing could be available for Sunday night’s game, given the G League Cup, as Marks noted.

In regards to the other Cavaliers players that tested positive, those were Lamar Stevens, Dylan Windler, Denzel Valentine and two-way player RJ Nembhard, per a Cavs statement.

We’ll have to see if the Cavs have other games set for next week are postponed, but either way, this wasn’t that shocking.

This at the time had been the league’s third game postponement, but others have occurred since.

The Denver Nuggets and Brooklyn Nets were reportedly postponed, and Brooklyn’s next game following that on Tuesday versus the Washington Wizards will likely follow suit, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium. The New Orleans Pelicans and Philadelphia 76ers game originally slated for Sunday was reportedly postponed, too. Brooklyn and Philadelphia have had outbreak-type scenarios within their clubs as well, like the reported Cavaliers’ situation.

As of now, the Cavs contest at the Boston Celtics on Wednesday has not been postponed yet, however, I would be the least bit surprised if that eventually were to be. The aforementioned Allen entered COVID-19 health and safety protocols earlier on Sunday, joining Okoro and Mobley in doing so, and four other Cavaliers players tested positive.

I’d imagine that we’ll see a hardship exception signing, assuming that’s granted, as the Cavaliers were reportedly fully vaccinated heading into the season (regarding the first and second dose at least), for what it’s worth. But either way, it’s a blow to the team to have this outbreak obviously, and who knows as far as how long it could take for guys to clear COVID-19 protocols.

Now could we eventually see the league pause its season, given the virus concerns and the omicron variant reportedly spreading much faster than the Delta variant? We’ll have to see, and the same goes for protocols potentially being adjusted, for asymptomatic players, as there has been reported discussion on the latter involving protocols. Nothing has been determined on that yet, though.

Regardless, for the Cavs, this is crushing news for now, and I just hope guys can get progressively healthy.