Pacers Malcolm Brogdon, Chris Duarte, Isaiah Jackson join Jeremy Lamb in COVID protocols

INDIANAPOLIS — The Pacers are the latest NBA team to have a COVID-19 outbreak.

Indiana coach Rick Carlisle announced Wednesday that reserve guard Jeremy Lamb tested positive for COVID-19 and entered the league's health and safety protocols. Less than 24 hours later, Carlisle said three more players — starting point guard Malcolm Brogdon, who missed the team's past three games with a sore right Achilles, and rookies Chris Duarte and Isaiah Jackson — are in the NBA's health and safety protocols, too.

Duarte started Wednesday night, scoring 11 points in 23 minutes in a 116-108 loss to Charlotte at Gainbridge FIeldhouse.

Carlisle tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month and missed four games while isolating for 10 days.

"I haven't talked to those guys yet but I will," Carlisle said. "The 10 days go by weirdly slow and weirdly fast. In the grand scope of things, it's a very, very short period of time, and (you) just gotta find a way to take advantage of it somehow. Everybody will have a different way to do that, but we've got intelligent, resourceful guys and they will."

The NBA recently updated its COVID-19 protocols, shortening the 10-day isolation period to six days for vaccinated asymptomatic players and coaches if they're deemed no longer contagious. Per ESPN, the league has been studying cycle threshold, which determines how much of the virus a person is still carrying, and if a person's cycle threshold reaches 35, they are no longer contagious.

A cycle threshold is determined by taking a person's viral load from their positive PCR test and putting it into a machine, and the more times the machine has to cycle around to detect the virus, the less contagious that person is, a source explained to IndyStar. For example, a cycle count of 35 means the machine cycled through 35 times before detecting the virus, which is better than a cycle count of 20, meaning the machine only needed 20 cycles to detect the virus. So the higher the cycle count, the better.

The vaccination status of Brogdon, Duarte, Lamb and Jackson, which could affect the length or their isolation period, is unclear.

Players and coaches can still return sooner if they register two negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart.

Carlisle, assistants Jenny Boucek and Mike Weinar, and manager of game strategy and analytics Zach Chu have all entered the league's health and safety protocols this season. All are vaccinated and have since rejoined the team, with Weinar already utilizing the league's shortened isolation period.

"My understanding is you gotta return two negative (PCR tests) or you gotta be at 35 on the cycle count," Carlisle said. "Mike Weinar got back (sooner). He got back in six or 6½ days, whatever it was. He returned two negatives and his cycles were where they need to be, so we'll hope for the best."

Justin Holiday, who said he is unvaccinated, was the first Pacers player to test positive for COVID-19 this season. He entered the league's health and safety protocols Nov. 30 and missed five games while adhering to a 10-day isolation period.

"The only thing I told (my teammates) was I was just bored," Holiday said. "Everybody's situation is gonna be different. I don't know what their set up is at the house or who's there or who's not. ... At the end of the day we don't want them to be gone that long and they don't want to (either)."

More: 'I love him': Nate Hinton returns to Pacers on 10-day contract, rejoins Rick Carlisle

That Pacers aren't in danger of having to postpone any games as they still have more than the eight healthy players required to play. The omicron variant, however, has proven to be very infectious and can spread through a team quickly, which is why the NBA and NBA Players Association agreed to new rules allowing teams to sign an additional player to a 10-day hardship contract for every player who tests positive for COVID-19.

Indiana signed Nate Hinton, a guard from its G-League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, to a 10-day hardship contract Thursday morning, presumably in response to Lamb entering the league's health and safety protocols. With Brogdon, Duarte and Jackson all out due to COVID-19 as well, more signings could be on the way.

All players that sign 10-day hardship contracts must be available to play in their team's first game after inking their deal.

Indiana is scheduled to host the Bulls at 3 p.m. Friday and then begin a two-game road trip in Cleveland on Jan. 2. Hinton practiced with the Pacers on Thursday, hours after signing with them.

"It's just a blessing," Hinton said. " ... It's been a great little opportunity due to the circumstances, so I'm just thankful that I got to have this opportunity."

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