Asymptomatic NBA players can return after six days out

NEW YORK • The National Basketball Association (NBA) has altered its Covid-19 protocols to allow players and coaches who have tested positive but are asymptomatic to return to their teams sooner, in response to new federal guidance and a surge in cases that has depleted several teams of their best players.

The new rules will also permit those with low viral loads to follow this new protocol, even if they still test positive, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times.

Players and coaches who have positive or inconclusive tests will be able to return after six days in isolation instead of 10, if they are asymptomatic by then and meet the requirements on tests for infectiousness, with both the NBA and its players union agreeing on the new rules.

To leave isolation on the shorter timeline, players and coaches must test with a low enough viral load on the fifth and sixth days after their initial positive tests.

Players and coaches can also emerge from isolation through one of the two previous methods - by isolating for 10 days and not having symptoms, or by returning two negative tests 24 hours apart.

The NBA's announcement coincided with the recommendation from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday that isolation times be reduced to five days from 10 for people without symptoms.

More than 100 players have entered the league's health and safety protocols - triggered by a positive or inconclusive coronavirus test, or potential exposure - this month alone, with the Omicron variant sweeping through the league.

The Phoenix Suns were hit hard on Monday after coach Monty Williams and Deandre Ayton entered protocols, joining Jae Crowder and Elfrid Payton, who are already self-isolating.

The hosts missed the quartet after Ja Morant scored 33 points, including a lay-up with 0.5 of a second remaining, and Desmond Bane drained a career-high 32 points as the visiting Memphis Grizzlies withstood a fourth-quarter rally for a 114-113 NBA win on Monday night.

Phoenix (26-7 and second in the West), whose 15-game home winning streak ended last Saturday, dropped back-to-back games for just the second time this season.

Assistant Kevin Young, who filled in for Williams, admitted the Suns could have done without the last-minute withdrawals, which threw them off their game, saying: "You see what's going on (with the virus), you just start kind of mentally preparing for things like this.

"Everyone's going through the same thing. You kind of get lost in the task at hand, you got a job to do and I think that's the approach we've all taken."

NYTIMES, REUTERS