NBA clown show on a Monday.

For starters, the Sixers are set to play in Atlanta tonight with only nine players.

Second, they’ve been fined for their handling of Ben Simmons:

Simmons did not play Saturday, nor did he travel to Atlanta. We’re told he has an issue with the knee that he hurt last year and was in turn kept out of the Nuggets game, which the Sixers played with seven guys due to COVID and contact tracing. Mike Scott was not healthy enough to play, but threw a uniform on to get the team to eight available players and avoid a forfeit, though if we’re being honest, the game probably should not have been played.

Rich says it best right here:

Additionally, we’ve got more games postponed, including:

And:

Now the league has set a special Board of Governors meeting for Tuesday, in which leaders will reportedly decided whether to continue with the season or pause to get the COVID situation under control.

Writes Jared Weiss at The Athletic:

“While there are currently only a few hot spots across the league, that can change quickly as people who were exposed over the past week begin to test positive. Though players and staff are supposed to follow the league’s guidelines for social distancing and limiting exposure in their daily lives, the absence of a bubble opens up the possibility for anyone to bend the rules without getting caught or simply get exposed to the virus in limited interactions with non-NBA personnel in society. The majority of the players did not want to repeat the bubble experience, either. The league still has months ahead of it to play, which leaves ample time for infections to hit some sort of critical mass. But even if that happens and the NBA decides to take two weeks off for everyone to quarantine, it may only reset the clock for a short period of time, if at all.”

Tonight in Atlanta, the Sixers will have the following nine players available: Joel Embiid, Danny Green, Tyrese Maxey, Isaiah Joe, Dakota Mathias, Dwight Howard, Tony Bradley, Paul Reed, and Mike Scott.