Spurs-Pelicans off; neither has required 8 players

Monday night’s game between the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans has been postponed, the league announced less than two hours before the scheduled tipoff at Smoothie King Center.

According to the NBA, “because of ongoing contract tracing within both the Spurs and Pelicans, neither team has the league-required eight available players to proceed with the scheduled game.”

This marks the second postponement for the Pelicans this season. Their game two weeks ago against the Dallas Mavericks was postponed because of contract tracing within the Mavericks organization, leaving Dallas without the required eight players.

New Orleans also had a sca-re that same week when forward Zion Williamson had to miss a game in accordance with the NBA’s healthy and safety protocols. Williamson ended up having an inconclusive COVID-19 test and missed only one game.

For San Antonio, this is the Spurs’ first postponement of the season. They are coming off a win over the Washington Wizards at home on Sunday night. That game was Washington’s first since Jan. 11, as the Wizards had six consecutive games postponed because of COVID-19 issues within the team.

Including Monday, the NBA has had 22 games postponed this season.