Wednesday's Hawks-Suns Game Postponed Due to Ongoing Contact Tracing

Due to ongoing contact tracing, the Suns do not have the league-required eight available players to play Wednesday.

Wednesday night's Hawks and Suns game has been postponed, the NBA announced.

"Because of ongoing contact tracing within the Suns, the team does not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with tonight's game against the Hawks," the league said in its statement.

The Suns played the Wizards on Monday night and Washington recently returned multiple positive tests. The Wizards' game against the Jazz, which was scheduled for this Wednesday, had been postponed on Tuesday due to COVID-19 complications. 

Following the latest decision by the NBA, the league has now postponed seven games due to coronavirus complications. The season began on Dec. 22, 2020.

On Tuesday, the NBA announced additional COVID-19 protocols in an attempt to combat rising positive test results around the NBA. COVID-19 cases have been increasing across the country, with Tuesday also marking a one-day high for the United States for COVID-19-related deaths.

Despite the changes made in professional basketball, Thunder guard George Hill pushed back against some of the measures on Tuesday night.

"We wanna play the game ... but I don't understand some of the rules," Hill said, via ESPN. "We can sweat 48 minutes with a guy next to us for 48 minutes, but we can't talk to them afterwards. It makes no sense."

The Hawks are 5-5 on the season while the Suns are 7-4.