Charlotte Hornets' four players enter NBA's health and safety protocols

Four Charlotte Hornets players have entered the NBA’s health and safety Protocols. LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, Jalen McDaniels and Mason Plumlee have all been placed in the protocols, the team announced on Saturday morning. The Hornets sent players and staff members home due to concern about potential positive COVID-19 tests, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Players that test positive must either isolate themselves away from their team for 10 days or return two negative PCR tests within a 24-hour period.

HORNETS IN TROUBLE!

Ball, Rozier, Plumlee and McDaniels are all key contributors to the Hornets, so obviously the team is hoping that the absences for those four players won’t be extended. In the meantime, Charlotte recalled James Bouknight, Vernon Carey Jr. and Kai Jones from the Greensboro Swarm of the G League in order to bolster their active roster. 

As long as the team doesn’t have more players placed in protocols, they will have enough members of their roster available to play out their upcoming schedule, as the league requires teams to have a minimum of eight available players. Last season, the league had to postpone over 20 games as a result of teams not having enough players available due to the protocols. So far this season, no games have had to be postponed.  

The Hornets have six games coming up in the next 11 days, beginning with a matchup against the Hawks in Atlanta on Sunday night. They then return home to host the Philadelphia 76ers for two straight games on Monday and Wednesday, and they’ll then host the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. After that, they travel to Texas to take on the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs, respectively. Charlotte currently sits seventh in the Eastern Conference with a 13-11 record.