Doc Rivers is hopeful the Sixers will get Shake Milton and Andre Drummond back from COVID-19 protocols this week

TORONTO — Doc Rivers is hopeful 76ers reserve point guard Shake Milton and backup center Andre Drummond will be out of COVID-19 health and safety protocols in time for Thursday’s game at Brooklyn, he said before the matchup Tuesday against the Raptors.

“Once they get their passports from Cabo and come back over and start playing basketball again, that’ll be terrific,” Rivers joked. " … That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re in shape to play, but they should be with the team.”

Milton and Drummond went into protocols on Dec. 19, contributing to the postponement of a home game against New Orleans because the Sixers did not have the eight required available players.

» READ MORE: During a frenzied, COVID-19 filled week, Myles Powell debuted for the Sixers and realized a long-awaited NBA dream

Milton is averaging 11.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 44.4% from the floor and 32% from three-point range. Drummond is averaging 6.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game.

Reserve forward Georges Niang, who entered protocols on Dec. 15, returned for the Sixers’ dominant win against the Wizards. Starting wing Danny Green has also been in protocols since Dec. 22.

Without those players available in recent games, the Sixers signed veteran guard Tyler Johnson to a 10-day hardship contract. Rookie guard Myles Powell, who signed a two-way contract on Dec. 19, also got minutes in the Sixers’ win at Boston the following day during Sunday’s victory in Washington.

The NBA has revised its health and safety protocols for vaccinated, asymptomatic players, who can now return from isolation after six days if testing data shows they are no longer at risk to be infectious, per a Monday report from ESPN. Previously, a player could exit protocols following 10 days of isolation or two consecutive negative tests produced 24 hours apart.

Rivers said he “[doesn’t] really have an opinion” about the change, other than he wants COVID-19 health and safety to remain at the forefront of any policies.

“The NBA is smart,” Rivers said. “They have far more people than me [well-versed in this]. I’m not one of these guys that says I need to do the research first before I make a decision. I pretty much trust scientists and doctors, basically because they’ve only studied it their whole life.

“So I don’t think I should have a whole bunch of opinions about that part of it.”

Rivers does hope he can continue coaching during games without wearing a mask, “but if they told us for health reasons that we had to put them on, we’d all put them on.”

He said it was “very difficult” last season for players to understand his instructions while his mouth was covered. He mentioned a conversation with the league about this subject last season, after he was “chastised” for pulling his mask down so players could hear him during a timeout in a game’s final seconds.

“I said, ‘Well, no offense, if none of these plays work because they can’t understand me every night and we all lose our jobs, do we get compensated?’” Rivers said. “At some point, you got to do your job, too. But at the end of the day, I still go with health and safety.”

When asked if the recent surge in cases has changed how Rivers operates in daily life, he said, “I’m just like everybody else: takeout, no workout, getting fatter.”

Green’s long wait to receive his 2019 Raptors championship ring continues.

His scheduled visit to Toronto while a member of the 2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers occurred after the NBA shut down for the pandemic in March 2020. He opted not to receive it during the bubble restart in Orlando, while the Raptors played in Tampa during the 2020-21 season or during the Sixers’ preseason visit to Toronto in October.

His reasoning for initially targeting Tuesday’s game to get his ring was because it would hypothetically be celebrated in front of a full regular-season crowd at Scotiabank Arena. It’s a quintessential example of how the best-laid plans do not always transpire during these pandemic times.

Green entered health and safety protocols last week, and capacity for home games in Toronto was recently reduced to 50% as the omicron variant spreads across North America and worldwide.

Green’s next opportunity to receive his hardware: the Sixers’ April 7 visit to Toronto.