NBA forced into major overhaul of COVID-19 health protocols amid rising outbreaks

The NBA and its Players Association have agreed to a major overhaul of its COVID-19 health protocols amid rising outbreaks among teams across the league.

The past two weeks in the NBA has seen a total of 172 players enter the NBA's health and safety protocols, in which individuals have been forced to miss at least 10 days before testing out of quarantine.

NBA superstars - Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden, LaMelo Ball - are just a small number of high-profile players who have missed extended periods this month due to entering the NBA's COVID-19 protocols.

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Under revised protocols, players can now leave quarantine after six days so long as COVID-19 testing data can prove they're no longer at risk of being infectious, according to ESPN's NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.

The decision was made in combination with expert research and data, as well as the NBA's own investigation.

The NBA also relied on data, telling teams that the updated protocols "reflects [the] analysis of testing data that the league and its infectious disease experts and epidemiologists have gathered throughout the pandemic." The changes were made in agreement with the National Basketball Players Association.

The NBA has seen coronavirus numbers soar in recent days, even with 97 per cent of players vaccinated and at least 65 per cent of eligible players boosted against the virus. A pair of coaches — Phoenix's Monty Williams and Portland's Chauncey Billups — also entered the NBA's health and safety protocols today.

Meanwhile, if a player enters health and safety protocols but returns two negative tests within 24 hours, they can still test out of quarantine.

Outbreaks have crippled nearly every team in the competition, with teams like Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland, Boston, Brooklyn, Minnesota, Orlando, and Portland currently all missing six or more players due to COVID-19 protocols.

Several games this month have also been postponed.

The NBA last week announced that teams can sign replacement players for contracted players who test positive without salary cap or luxury tax implications.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver revealed last week that "90 per cent" of the league's COVID-19 cases was the Omicron variant.

"We're up around probably 90 per cent of the positive cases we're seeing right now are omicron," he said.

"We always are measuring viral loads with our PCR test. So that's something, again, that it's not just our doctors but the medical community is looking at.

"I think they're already realizing that you can move away from the 10-day protocol when you have players who are vaccinated and boosted.

"It seems the virus runs through their systems faster.

"They become not just asymptomatic but, more importantly, they're not shedding the virus anymore. That's the real concern in terms of others. And so we are actively looking at shortening the number of days players are out before they can return to the floor."

- with AP