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Sacramento Kings head coach Alvin Gentry has entered the NBA's health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, and will not be available for Wednesday's game against the Washington Wizards. The Kings canceled their morning shootaround, per the Sacramento Bee's Jason Anderson, and the team plans on doing additional testing on players and staffers to see if anyone else needs to be isolated. As of right now, the Kings haven't decided on who will fill in for Gentry on the sidelines, but assistants Mike Longabardi and Doug Christie are being considered, per Wojnarowksi.

Gentry said that he's mostly asymptomatic aside from a "scratchy throat," but the interim head coach who was promoted after the Kings fired Luke Walton earlier this season will need to register two negative PCR tests 24 hours apart before he can return to his coaching duties in person. 

With the announcement of Gentry's COVID-19 diagnosis, he joins Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle in the league's health and safety protocols, in addition to a swath of players that continues to rise each day. Currently, there are 36 players in quarantine, and the league has postponed two games already because of a COVID-19 outbreak within the Chicago Bulls, who have 10 players in protocols. 

The NBA has attributed the recent spike in positive COVID-19 cases to Thanksgiving, where many people in the league likely gathered with large groups. This influx of players and staff members in protocols is something that league executives and health officials expect to continue to increase through Christmas and New Year's as people gather for the holidays.

If additional players continue to enter protocols, leaving teams without the required number of players needed to compete in a game (eight), the NBA will then be forced to postpone more games down the road.