Nate McMillan cringes every time his phone rings.
The Hawks coach has gotten a lot of bad news over the last several days so you can understand his apprehension. He did get some much welcomed news just before the Hawks tipped off against the Bulls Monday. Trae Young is back. That doesn’t change the last few weeks but it does ease the pain.
Early Monday, the Hawks took another blow on the COVID-19 front. Delon Wright became the 11th current player, and third in two days, to enter the NBA’s health and safety protocols. The Hawks’ roster stands at 23 players and had 11 players out due to the protocols and two injured. That gave them 10 available players – two more than the minimum to play.
And then Young got the news he has long awaited. He recieved a second negative test and was cleared to return to play. He missed three games after orginally going into the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Dec. 18.
A player must return two negative tests to clear the health and safety protocols. Young hinted a return was possible when he posted a message on social media Monday that indicated he may have one negative test. He posted on Twitter: “maybe COVID heard me.” Young has posted several times about his frustration with not being able to play.
Wright joins a list on the health and safety protocols list that includes John Collins, Sharife Cooper, Danilo Gallinari, Kevin Huerter, Wes Iwundu, Jalen Johnson, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Onyeka Okongwu and Lou Williams. Clint Capela recently came out of the protocols. The Hawks have several other members of the organization who are out.
With each positive COVID test and subsequent quarantine, the Hawks can sign a player to a 10-day contract. They signed guard Chaundee Brown on Monday. Brown is the sixth player on a 10-day contract, one of those players is currently in the protocols.
“I’ve never experienced this situation before, when you have 11 guys out,” McMillan said. “This is the world we live in right now. We have to be ready for anything.”
McMillan said he understands that the NBA does not plan to shut down in an attempt to get players healthy even as one team after another gets hit hard by COVID.
“I think the league is going through it, just as the country is going through it,” McMillan said when asked if the league should pause. “We did shut down one time before just as the country shut down one time before. What the league is trying to do is not go through that again. ...
“What the league has done is told us that we have to replace those players with a body so that we can continue to work and be as close to normal as possible. There is really nothing we can do. It’s very frustrating for all of us. As the league and the world is trying to continue on with life and continue on with working, we have to make these adjustments and try to do the best we can and work through it.”
It is frustrating. McMillan prepared on Sunday as if Wright would be available to play Monday. Less than 24 hours later, the point guard was out. The Hawks were going to have to rely heavily on guards Skylar Mays and Cat Barber against the Bulls. That is not ideal.
With each positive test, general manager Travis Schlenk is sent scrambling to find a replacement player. That is after he gives the bad news to McMillan.
“It’s unbelievable how it changes day to day, hour to hour,” McMillan said.
McMillan said the Hawks were waiting on test results for a “few” players prior to Monday’s game. However, Young was the only one cleared in time to play.
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