The Chicago Bulls will have some difficult games in the coming future now that half of the team’s roster has entered coronavirus protocols following an outbreak.
As of Sunday, as many as nine Bulls players entered the league’s coronavirus protocols, including Zach LaVine, Troy Brown Jr., and DeMar DeRozan, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the NBA currently lists 21 players in coronavirus quarantine at the time being, nearly half of which belong to the Bulls. Come Tuesday, the team will match off against the Detroit Pistons.
The outbreak among the team began on December 1 when Coby White tested positive; the quarantining has only snowballed since then, with at least one player entering “protocol every two days,” according to the Tribune: “Javonte Green (Dec. 3), DeMar DeRozan (Dec. 5), Matt Thomas (Tuesday), Derrick Jones Jr. (Thursday), Ayo Dosunmu and Stanley Johnson (Saturday) and now LaVine and Brown.”
“The Bulls won their first three games played during the outbreak, but they were blown out in Cleveland and Miami this past week after the loss of DeRozan,” reported the Tribune. “The Bulls have been outscored by an average of 50 points per game without LaVine and DeRozan on the court.
Earlier this year, the Bulls roster reportedly received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine; according to Bulls center Nikola Vučević, who spent time in quarantine this past November, most teammates received the coronavirus booster shots.
According to current NBA mandates, a player must isolate for ten days if they test positive for the coronavirus.
“After that period, a player must undergo a cardiac screening and reconditioning in order to be cleared to return to the court,” noted ESPN. “A player who tests positive could also clear protocol by returning two negative PCR tests within a 24-hour period.”
LeBron James, for instance, submitted as many as eight negative coronavirus tests after testing positive for the virus before he was allowed back on the court. However, Chicago Bull coach Billy Donovan said that players have exhibited little symptoms and expressed optimism that they will produce negative tests soon.
“We’ve got a lot of guys sitting home with no symptoms right now,” Donovan said. “That’s obviously a good thing, too, because when guys have gone through a little difficulty of getting really, really sick, it’s really made it a lot harder for them coming back.”
“So we do have some guys that have felt under the weather, we have some guys that have very, very mild symptoms, and some guys who just don’t have any,” he added.
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