BOSTON — The Orlando Magic’s game against the Boston Celtics scheduled for Wednesday night has been postponed because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of testing and contact tracing within the Celtics, the team does not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with Wednesday’s game in Boston, the Magic indicated in a statement.

A new date for the game has not been announced yet.

The teams also are scheduled to play Friday.

The NBA has been forced to postpone a few games in the past week because of rising coronavirus numbers and contract tracing designed to ensure that players or staff who come in contact with people who test positive do not expose others to the virus.

The new postponement means five games so far have been called off due to virus-related matters. On Monday, the NBA postponed games Monday in Dallas between the Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans and Tuesday’s matchup in Chicago between the Bulls and the Celtics because of COVID-related and contact-tracing issues. The latest postponements came after Miami’s game in Boston was called off because of contact-tracing issues within the Heat. 

NBA GMs, according to a person familiar with the discussion who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the conversations were private, talked about increasing roster sizes Monday, along wih stiffening protocols about player interaction such as postgame handshakes and hugs — as well as even more of a commitment to social distancing and mask wearing.

Contact tracing within the NBA has gotten much more high-tech in recent days, with a new requirement that everyone within the travel parties wear an electronic device that tracks their proximity to one another. The data from those devices is part of the determination as to whether a player needs to quarantine because of possible exposure

The Associated Press contributed to this report.