Russell Westbrook Put In COVID-19 Protocols As The NBA's Christmas Day Slate Is In Jeopardy

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2 min read • December 17, 2021

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NBA
Russell Westbrook Put In COVID-19 Protocols As The NBA's Christmas Day Slate Is In Jeopardy

The Lakers announced Thursday that they placed future Hall-of-Fame point guard Russell Westbrook into health and safety protocols, keeping him out at least through their Christmas Day matchup with the Nets.

Westbrook is 1 of 5 players in Los Angeles to test positive for COVID-19 this week, joining Dwight Howard, Talen Horton-Tucker, Malik Monk, and Avery Bradley. The quintet will miss at least the next 5 games, and likely more, unless they post 2 negative PCR tests over 24 hours apart as LeBron James did earlier this month.

(James' test turned out to be a false-positive, and his weight with the league and within the player's union cannot be ignored in this situation, as he was able to procure a high volume of tests over a 2-day period).

Both the Lakers and their Christmas Day opponent, Brooklyn, are wrought with COVID-induced absences. The league is highly unlikely to postpone the contest, as the slate represents its biggest day of the regular season, meaning we will see 2 contenders competing with James, Kevin Durant, and a smorgasbord of role players. 

We have seen, however, how 1 or 2 positive tests can quickly snowball into an entire team in the health and safety protocols.