| Detroit Free Press
Pistons’ Wayne Ellington claps back at Draymond Green: ‘Very unprofessional, not classy’
Pistons’ Wayne Ellington claps back at Warriors’ Draymond Green on Jan. 31, 2021 after the forward’s postgame comments skewering Rodney McGruder.
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons‘ biggest COVID-19 scare of the season ended up being a false alarm.
A positive test within the organization led to the last-minute postponement of their road game against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. It was a false positive, and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported early Tuesday morning Detroit’s schedule will resume as normal.
The Pistons will continue their road trip, playing the Utah Jazz at 10 p.m. Tuesday before a back-to-back against the Phoenix Suns on Friday and Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.
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They have now had two games postponed due to the NBA’s contact tracing rules, which left them without the required eight player minimum to continue with Monday’s game. Their game against the Washington Wizards on Jan. 13 was also postponed due to ongoing contact tracing on the Wizards’ side.
It’s unclear when those games will be replayed. The league has managed to reschedule some games for the first half of the schedule, which ends March 4. The second half of the calendar has yet to be released. All-Star break will take place from March 5-11.
The pandemic, and related rules the NBA introduced to minimize outbreaks, will continue to challenge the Pistons this season. In addition to two game postponements, their road game against the Miami Heat on Jan. 13 was delayed five hours due to Miami’s testing issues.
READ: Wayne Ellington defends Rodney McGruder, calls out Draymond Green’s ‘fake tough guy’ act
“You have to be nimble, you have to be flexible and you have to expect the unexpected,” head coach Dwane Casey said before the Heat game. “And that’s how this entire season is going to go, and if you go into it thinking it’s going to be a normal day, that’s when your life will be a little bit disrupted.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa. Read more on the Detroit Pistons and sign up for our Pistons newsletter.