The Dallas Mavericks will be without coach Jason Kidd on Friday night against the Houston Rockets.
The Mavericks announced Kidd has entered the health and safety protocols as the NBA’s 13th head coach sidelined this season. Assistant coach Sean Sweeney will be Dallas’ acting head coach.
Dallas currently is fifth in the Western Conference and has won four straight. The Mavericks are scheduled to host Chicago on Sunday night before hitting the road for a two-game swing.
The last few weeks in the NBA have seen most teams dealing with outbreaks; 11 games have been postponed, while now 13 head coaches, countless other staffers and about one-third of the league’s referees have been sidelined by virus issues.
Recent days have lessened the strain that teams are under. There were about 125 players in the protocols midway through last week, and that number was down to 56 by Thursday evening.
About 300 players have been in the protocols already this season in the NBA, and because so many hardship signings were needed by teams to fill depleted rosters there were more players who saw game time in December alone — 544 — than in any other previous full season in league history. The previous single-season record was 540, set last season.
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