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Haircuts From COVID-19 Postive Barber Sidelines Joel Embiid & Ben Simmons

Source: Mitchell Leff / Getty

Wanting to have a fresh cut for NBA All-Star Weekend has forced two All-Star Game participants into COVID-19 protocol.

Philadelphia 76ers’ stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons have been placed into COVID-19 protocols after getting haircuts from a barber who has tested positive for COVID-19.  Both players were selected to participate in this year’s celebration of the league’s brightest stars and are already down in COVLANTA; oops, we mean Atlanta and in the NBA’s All-Star bubble.

Shams Charania of The Athletic broke the news in a tweet that the two superstars could miss the game due to contact tracing after getting All-Star Weekend fresh before heading to Atlanta. The Philadelphia barber in question first test was an inconclusive positive test and was underwent additional testing to confirm the first positive test.

ESPN confirmed that both Embiid and Simmons were ruled out for tonight’s game. Embiid was named a starter on Team Durant, and Simmons was a reserve on Team Lebron. The league has no plans to replace either player.

This is not the news Adam Silver wanted to wake up to on the day of the game that most players already had some consternation about playing in the first place. To be fair to Silver, Embiid and Simmon’s predicament happened before they got to Atlanta and is an issue that could have happened at any point during the season. We will chalk it up to sheer bad luck, but if Embiid and Simmons eventually test positive for COVID-19, this situation could turn into a full-blown nightmare scenario.

Yikes.

Twitter is already roasting Adam Silver. Here is just a small taste of jokes being thrown at the NBA Commissioner, who at one point was considered a genius for the NBA bubble.

This is an unfortunate development for Adam Silver and the NBA on what was supposed to be a big night. The NFL dodged a similar bullet before the Super Bowl.

 

Photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty

Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid & Ben Simmons Out of NBA All-Star Game Due To Contact Tracing  was originally published on cassiuslife.com