12:14 AM
According to a memo obtained by Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA and the NBA Players Association came to an agreement on Sunday night on rules for additional replacement players.
The amended rules went into effect Sunday night and will remain in place until January 19th, when the league will give further guidance on how things will proceed.
Each positive COVID-19 case will allow teams to sign a replacement player for the entire roster. If a team has five positive cases of COVID-19, it could sign five replacement players.
If there are at least two positive COVID-19 cases, teams will have to sign at least two replacements, and at least three if there are at least four positive COVID-19 cases.
The NBA allows teams to sign a replacement player after the first game of the team's season, but the player must be available by the start of the second game.
Replacement players who are signed won't count towards a team's yearly salary and will not add to the team's potential luxury tax payment. The Brooklyn Nets, who are currently dealing with a significant COVID-19 outbreak, had their game against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday postponed, as well as their game against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday. If the salary of the replacement player counted towards the luxury tax, it would cost the Nets $500,000.
The NBA and the NBPA agreed to scrap the limit on the number of games a two-way player is allowed to be on a team's active roster. There was a limit on the number of games that could be played under the previous agreement. If players wind up being active for more than 50 games this season, they will get paid an amended rate.
The NBA postponed five games on Sunday, including three that were scheduled to be played on Sunday.
Dozens of players have entered the health and safety protocols this past week, including stars like Brooklyn's Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, Milwaukee's Antetokounmpo and Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, as well as Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel.
The Chicago Bulls returned to action on Sunday night for the first time since their games against the Pistons and Raptors were canceled. They beat the Lakers in Chicago.
Teams scrambled to fill out their rosters with replacement players to stay above the minimum eight active players necessary to play an NBA game as positive cases mounted across the league. The Nets and Magic played a game on Saturday night that had 24 players missing due to injury or health and safety protocols, and only 17 available players between them.
Several teams are hovering around the eight-player mark at the moment, as well as those that had to have their game postponed Sunday.
