Houston Rockets vs Oklahoma City Thunder postponed due to lack of players

Houston Rockets' game against Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday has been postponed as the Rockets do not have the league-required eight available players needed to proceed, the NBA announced.

The NBA said three Rockets players have returned tests that were either positive or inconclusive for coronavirus under the NBA's testing program. In addition, four other players are quarantined under the contact tracing protocol and one additional player was unavailable due to injury.

Contact tracing protocols caused the Rockets to send home three players Wednesday after rookie team-mate Kenyon Martin Jr returned a positive coronavirus test and needed to be tested again for confirmation.

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John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins and Martin were among Rockets players gathered on Tuesday evening at a player's apartment away from the team facility. Wall and Cousins tested negative for the coronavirus Wednesday morning.

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The Rockets listed Martin as "not with the team/self isolating," as he awaits further test results to confirm the original positive.

Rockets rookie Jae'Sean Tate is also among the players who were sent home Wednesday morning because of contact tracing.

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The NBA's new protocol on contact tracing gives the league the ability to make decisions on possible timelines for return if players continue to test negative.

The Rockets already had one player, Ben McLemore, away from the team for a few days with the coronavirus, sources said.

The league said Rockets star James Harden was unavailable for Wednesday's game "due to a violation of the Health and Safety Protocol" based on a video circulating in recent days in which he appeared maskless at a Houston club.