He's currently under quarantine and needs to produce negative tests for four straight days to get back on the court now.

Testing began on Tuesday.

Harden violated the MBA's Covic protocols by attending an indoor party without wearing a mess.

And in addition, the Heart and seven other Rockets were sidelined for Houston's opener yesterday against Okay, see that was postponed, leaving the team one short of the minimum eight players who must be available to play.

That included John Wall and DeMarcus cousins, who are out due to contact tracing.

Seven of the eight players were unavailable because of these Cove in 19 related issues earlier today.

On the jump, Rachel Nichols spoke to NBA commissioner Adam Silver about Harden situation.

You guys decided to find him $50,000 for violating Koven protocols earlier this week.

Above and beyond that, you guys could have decided to suspend him.

Why fine instead of suspend, the president is that discipline gets ratcheted up and it's Christmas.

It was the first offend.

Frankly, to your point, the $50,000 is the limit of my authority under the collective bargaining agreement and and what would have happened.

I mean, in a way, he got lucky because if the game had taken place last night is scheduled and he were unavailable because of his own actions, he would have missed a game in a paycheck.

And so it would have in practice, you know, are ultimately have turned out to be a much larger sanction.

Adrian War Janowski now joins us.

Whoa, Let's start with hardened.

How the league determined this course of action that could get hard and back on the court on Saturday.

Break that down for us.

Well, Adam Silver spelled it out there with Rachel Nichols.

You know, Number one.

He treated it like our first defense, and I guess there was some empathy for the holiday.

But when you talk to people around in the league and there was a sense to that thing, eh?

NBA does not want the Rockets to be in another position Saturday night in Portland.

Were there Perhaps not having enough players to play against the Blazers or again on Monday.

And this is an organization that has been reeling with the James Harden trade, uh, trade request, uh, positive tests.

And you know, there's still an organization right now that's trying to get Boogie Cousins and John Wall back on the court.

But as much as it was a break for James Harden, this was a break for the Rockets organization.

You know that wants to get get some footing with the new GM, a new head coach and get James Harden back on the floor.

Uh, amid you know what's been a very turbulent preseason early season for them.

You talk about the organization reeling.

I mean, what do they have to do as a team right here in order to play on Saturday against Portland, with or without heart?

Yeah, they need, you know, right now in contact tracing and the testing that John Wall's undergoing DeMarcus cousins is undergoing.

Uh, Ben McLemore tested positive.

We are told, you know, they're waiting for him to be able to come back and play again.

But, you know, the Rockets wanna be able Thio get out of plane to Portland and for that Portland Denver trip and have cousins.

And while ready to go, there's a protocol in place for that.

Just like Harden right now has to sit until Friday s.

Oh, you're losing practice time.

You know you're losing a chance to get some cohesion with this group, and you know the Rockets very much just want to get James Harden in that backcourt with John Wall and see if they could get a little traction with this team.

Aziz.

They start the season out with a new head coach.

Stephen Stephen Silas.

Well, the news cycle just doesn't seem to end for this.

Houston squad is this year starts off, won't thank you and happy holidays.

So after Wednesday's postponement, the Rockets are scheduled to start their season again in Portland on Saturday.

Again, that is, if they could get the requisite eight healthy players.

The team is a quick turnaround with the trip to Denver on Monday.

Then it's back to Houston for two straight games against the Kings and one against the Mavericks.

Brian Wynne horse.

Joining us now to break it all down.

Listen, Jayson Tatum, he got that bank shot.

The go ahead shot the eventual winner.

He got all the hype, but we can't overlook Yannis and that miss free throw with 0.4 seconds left.

What did you see from Yannis last night?

Yeah, well, they both throughout bricks.

But Tatum's went in, and that's the difference in the game.

And, you know, as bad as that was for for ending of Yannis, he was actually pretty excited at the at the end of last night.

And the reason why, because he played 36 minutes now in the off season.

He went to the front office and not only talked about roster changes before signing his big extension, but he wanted to play Mawr minister in the regular season to get ready for the playoffs.

Last year, he averaged 30 minutes a game and won the M v p.

But this looks like the new standard.

36 minutes a night more Yanis more stats.

Milwaukee hopes better preparation for the playoffs.

Yeah, big expectations for Yannis big expectations for the Sixers this year.

And two, they beat Russell Westbrook and the Wizards in his debut.

What did you take away from that contest?

This was the kind of game that Joel Embiid has been wanting for a long time.

They were behind going into the fourth quarter, they cleared out the floor with shooters and they just fed him the ball over and over and over.

At one point, they want to.

On five consecutive possessions on the Left Bloc, he scored 15 points in the fourth quarter of his 29.

That's the way Joel Embiid wants to play.

He tried to get that through the previous coaching staff.

They when the when it mattered.

They did run a play at the end of the game for Ben Simmons, but this is the, you know, the new.

The new regime in Philly has been focused on Joel Embiid from the start and right out of the gate.

They focused on him at the end of the game.

Yeah, dominant in that contest.

29 points, 14 rebounds.

And aside from Houston in O K.

C.

In that game being postponed, each team in the league has played one game.

But not every team has had the same approach.

How so?

Yeah, when you watch these teams, just with the unusual nature started this season, different teams are on different tracks, and the teams that have prioritize getting off to a fast start are very clear.

The New Orleans Pelicans, with the terrific win in Tampa last night, Stan Van Gundy went through rigorous practices leading up to the start this season.

He played Zion Williamson over 30 minutes a game and their preseason games, and it showed they were sharp and ready to go and had a great fourth quarter shooting the ball very well.

Winning this game.

And that's Ah, big factory.

Also the L.

A Clippers completely different team from a year ago, going all out right from the start.

We've seen Kawhi Leonard playing the first quarter, and Paul George play in the fourth quarter like they should be playing the playoffs last year.

Not at all the way they started last season.

Both those teams in action on Christmas Day, and I expect him to keep the pedal down.

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