Kings place rookie guard Davion Mitchell in COVID protocols

The Kings have placed guard Davion Mitchell in the health and safety protocols, according to Sean Cunningham of ABC 10 Sacramento. Mitchell was initially listed as questionable for Friday’s game against Memphis — perhaps in the hopes that his COVID-19 test was a false positive — but he has now been ruled out, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Even if a player registers a false positive, he needs to return consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart in order to exit the protocols, so a negative result Friday wouldn’t have cleared Mitchell, assuming he tested positive earlier in the day.

Sacramento also has five other players in the health and safety protocols and is missing Richaun Holmes due to a right eye injury. On top of that, Tyrese Haliburton (back) and Chimezie Metu (knee) are listed as questionable for Friday’s game. If Haliburton and Metu are ruled out, the club would be down to eight available players, as Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee notes.

According to Wojnarowski, the Kings may sign free-agent guard Justin Robinson before Friday night’s contest to provide further reinforcements, assuming the game takes place as scheduled. Robinson would receive a 10-day contract via a hardship exception in that scenario.

Robinson began the season on a two-way contract with Milwaukee and appeared in 17 games for the Bucks, averaging 2.8 points and 1.2 assists on .316/.270/1.000 shooting in 11.6 minutes per contest. However, he was waived at the end of November when the Bucks opted to replace him on the roster with Javonte Smart.