COVID-19 cases force Trail Blazers to close facility days before Kings’ preseason game
The Portland Trail Blazers closed their practice facility Sunday — days before they are scheduled to host the Kings in their preseason opener — after three members of the organization tested positive for COVID-19.
Blazers president of basketball operations Neil Olshey issued a statement Sunday morning, saying the facility will be closed for deep cleaning after three people in the organization tested positive over the past few days. Teams have conducted daily testing since training camp began Tuesday with individual player workouts. Group workouts were set to begin Sunday.
“Over the past four days, we have had three positive COVID test results within our organization,” Olshey said. “Out of an abundance of caution, having completed contact tracing, we are closing our practice facility today for deep cleaning while we run confirmatory tests”
The Kings are scheduled to play the Blazers in their preseason opener Friday at Moda Center in Portland, a game that will be televised by ESPN. The Kings and Blazers are also scheduled to play a second preseason game in Portland two days later.
The NBA will determine whether the preseason games in Portland will be canceled, postponed or played as scheduled. The league had not determined how those games would be impacted as of early Sunday afternoon.
The Kings are scheduled to conclude their four-game preseason schedule with two home games against the Golden State Warriors Dec. 15 and Dec. 17 at Golden 1 Center. They will visit the Denver Nuggets in their season opener Dec. 23.
This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 11:48 AM.
