Two Hawks players, Danilo Gallinari and Clint Capela entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols Tuesday, with three staff members also out because of COVID-19.
They join Trae Young, who entered protocols Sunday and is still there. ESPN first reported the news.
The rule for rejoining the team is two negative COVID-19 tests, taken 24 hours apart, so the status for Young, Gallinari and Capela’s return is unclear for now, including for the Christmas Day game in New York. Young tweeted late Tuesday afternoon that he is asymptomatic, and the other players and staff members are experiencing either no symptoms or mild symptoms.
Before Young, the Hawks hadn’t had a player to enter health and safety protocols this season. Although it’s not as big of an outbreak as many teams around the league are dealing with during this spike of positive tests, these absences leave the Hawks are shorthanded, and they will sign Malcolm Hill (who played for the Birmingham Squadron in the G League) and Lance Stephenson (who played in the NBA from 2010-19) to 10-day hardship exemptions as part of the league’s new rule to allow teams hit by COVID-19 to expand their rosters.
Those likely won’t become official until Wednesday morning. They have another hardship exemption slot, as well, since they’re missing three players, but as of now plan to sign only Hill and Stephenson, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Hawks’ game vs. the Cavaliers on Sunday was postponed because Cleveland had too many players in protocols to field a team, but it seems the Hawks won’t have that issue, since they will pick up Stephenson and Hill and as of Tuesday have only three players out because of COVID-19, as opposed to the seven the Cavaliers announced. They’re certainly at a disadvantage, however, down two starters in Young and Capela and one key bench player in Gallinari.
