With the NBA playing outside a bubble this season, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be wreaking havoc. Eric Bronson-USA TODAY Sports

Wednesday's Jazz-Wizards game postponed

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Jan 12, 2021 7:37 PM ET

The COVID-19 crisis hovering over the NBA heading into the halfway point of January is only getting worse.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Washington Wizards confirmed that they canceled a scheduled practice ahead of Wednesday's game against the Utah Jazz after adding two players to the NBA’s health and safety protocols list.

Roughly nine hours after that decision went public, the NBA announced that the Washington-Utah clash is postponed because the Wizards won't have a minimum of eight players healthy and available by Wednesday evening:

The following was released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/dvdHltdMdO
— NBA (@NBA) January 13, 2021

This marks the fifth NBA game scrapped this week because of coronavirus-related concerns and follows a story by ESPN's Brian Windhorst and Zach Lowe about how multiple players have tested positive for COVID-19 twice since the start of the pandemic.

The Dallas Mavericks were unable to face the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday due to COVID-19 issues but were cleared to travel for Wednesday's matchup against the Charlotte Hornets. Meanwhile, multiple college programs temporarily paused basketball activities from Monday morning through the end of Tuesday.

Currently, the Wizards are set to play at the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. Utah, meanwhile, will complete a game at the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday and then host the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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