Brooklyn Nets game at Portland postponed due to lack of eligible players

Kyrie Irving not allowed to play with Nets

Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving will not be allowed to practice or play with the team until he is "eligible to be a full participant."

NEW YORK - The NBA has postponed Brooklyn's game scheduled for Thursday at Portland because the coronavirus-ravaged Nets do not have the league-minimum eight players available for the contest.

The league made the announcement Wednesday. It is the eighth postponement of the season because of virus-related reasons and the third consecutive Nets game to be pushed back.

"The NBA has announced that tomorrow's Brooklyn Nets game at the Portland Trail Blazers has been postponed due to the number of players in Health & Safety Protocols. The Dec. 23, 2021 game against the Trail Blazers will be rescheduled and we are working with the NBA to confirm new date."

And it means that Brooklyn's next possible game would be Saturday — part of the NBA's five-game Christmas slate, with the Nets scheduled to visit the Los Angeles Lakers.

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Brooklyn has what is believed to be a league-high 10 players in the health and safety protocols, a list that includes Kevin Durant, James Harden and — even though he has yet to play this season — Kyrie Irving.

The league entered Wednesday with 84 players from 20 teams known to be in the protocols, a figure that fluctuates almost on an hourly basis. But the NBA has no plans to pause the season, Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this week.

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If the Nets-Lakers game ends up postponed as well, the NBA is reserving the right to move another game into that 8 p.m. Eastern time slot to accommodate ABC's needs. The league told the 10 teams with games scheduled on Christmas that shifting some starting times is a possibility and that the priority is filling ABC's 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. game slots.

For now, those games, in order, would have Boston at Milwaukee, Golden State at Phoenix and Brooklyn at the Lakers.

The next home game for the Nets is Dec. 30 against the Philadelphia 76ers.

With the Associated Press