Apparently, even masking up in the shower isn't even fully effective against COVID-19.
The Knicks announced Friday afternoon that guard Immanuel Quickley has entered the NBA's health and safety protocols, and he will miss Saturday's game against the Celtics in Boston.
Quickley played 32 minutes and scored a team-high 24 points in the Knicks' win over Houston on Thursday night, but now becomes the fifth Knick to enter league protocols over the last seven days – even after, as he joked with the media on Thursday night, he's been taking the potential of a COVID outbreak so seriously that he has been "showering with my mask on."
Obi Toppin was the first back to enter protocols on Dec. 11 and RJ Barrett joined a day later, and while both are vaccinated and can return prior to their 10-day window if they have two negative tests within 24 hours, their absences on Thursday reveal they have yet to do that.
Quentin Grimes (Dec. 14) and Kevin Knox II (Dec. 16) also entered protocols this week and will be out Saturday, leaving the Knicks incredibly short-handed if neither Toppin nor Barrett can be cleared to return. The Knicks used nine players in Thursday's game, but Derrick Rose left the game early with an ankle injury, and now without Quickley, only seven of those are eligible as of now.
The Knicks do at least have other options: Wayne Selden is active but did not play Thursday, both Jericho Sims and Luka Zamanic could be recalled from Westchester on their two-way deals if needed, and perhaps Kemba Walker, who hasn't seen the court since he was removed from the rotation around Thanksgiving, could get his first run in three weeks.
The same can't be said for their cross-town rival Nets, who have seven players in protocols, plus an eighth in Kyrie Irving who is inactive due to his vaccination status, leaving them just the NBA-minimum eight active players earlier in the week, including their two two-way players.
Brooklyn was able to sign Langston Galloway to a 10-day deal on Thursday, but the team is so short-handed that Galloway ended up playing nine minutes Thursday night in the Nets' win over Philly.
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