Covid-19 has once again hit the National Basketball Association (NBA) league, this time NBA postpones Chicago bulls games Bulls.
As a COVID-19 outbreak sideline 10 of its players, the NBA has come to a decision to postpone the next two Chicago Bulls games to allow the franchise to start getting back healthy players and curb the further spread of the virus.
In the first game casualties of the season, the NBA will reschedule the Bulls vs Pistons game on Tuesday in Chicago and Bulls vs Raptors on Thursday in Toronto for future dates that are yet to be communicated.
The Bulls were eager to have the league grant them relief with the postponements and get the support of the Chicago Department of Public Health, which impacted the league’s decision, sources said.
After forward Alize Johnson tested positive and entered protocols on Monday, sources said, the Bulls were down to a league minimum of eight players — and some of those weren’t even among the top regular rotation players.
Johnson joins a lengthy list of Bulls in the league’s health and safety protocols that includes Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Troy Brown Jr., Coby White, Javonte Green, Matt Thomas, Derrick Jones Jr., Ayo Dosunmu and Stanley Johnson.
Alize Johnson became 10th Chicago Bull In COVID Protocol After Testing Positive for Covid-19 on Monday. | PHOTO: ESPN |
NBA postpones Chicago bulls games, Once players enter the league’s protocols, they must quarantine for 10 days or until they return two negative PCR tests within a 24-hour window.
The Bulls have added at least one new player to the health and safety protocols for three straight days since their outbreak started at the beginning of the month. The team did not hold an organized practice Monday.
The Bulls have enjoyed a better season compared to last season and are currently sitting in the second position in the Eastern Conference standings with a 17-10 record.
Chicago Bulls Head Coach Billy Donovan. | PHOTO: Forbes |
“Maybe some of it’s because of the vaccination, we’ve got a lot of guys sitting at home with no symptoms right now,” Bulls coach Donovan said of the situation Saturday, via ESPN. “That’s obviously a good thing, too, because I think when guys have gone through a real difficulty of getting really, really sick, it’s really made it a lot harder for them coming back. … We do have some guys that have felt under the weather, we have guys that have very, very mild symptoms, and some guys that just don’t have any.”
All of the absences are unfortunate for a Bulls team that has been very good this season and the only hope for Donovan is they come back from the health crisis as strong as before.
The Bulls lost to the Miami Heat on Sunday and the Heats is already dealing with the possible exposure as forward Caleb Martin and broadcaster Jason Jackson both entered protocols. Postponing the next two games will help ensure that this outbreak doesn’t spread any further than it already has within the Bulls’ organization, in addition to potentially spreading to any other opposing teams Chicago faces.
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