Bulls COVID outbreak: Chicago faces risk of postponing games with nine players in health and safety protocols

After being forced to do so numerous times last season, the NBA hasn’t had to postpone any games for COVID-related reasons during the 2021-22 campaign. However, that could soon change as the Chicago Bulls are dealing with a myriad of absences. The Bulls currently have nine players in the league’s health and safety protocols, and one or more of their upcoming games might have to be postponed as a result. 

The Bulls are scheduled to host the Detroit Pistons Tuesday, and then take on the Raptors in Toronto Thursday. The NBA requires teams to have eight active players in order to play a game. As it stands, the Bulls have nine healthy and available players on the roster. Below is a list of Chicago’s players currently in protocols: 

• Zach LaVine — Expected to be out until at least Dec. 22
• Troy Brown Jr. — Expected to be out until at least Dec. 22
• Ayo Dosunmu — Expected to be out until at least Dec. 21
• Stanley Johnson — Expected to be out until at least Dec. 21
• Derrick Jones Jr. — Expected to be out until at least Dec. 20
• Matt Thomas — Expected to be out until at least Dec. 18
• DeMar DeRozan — Expected to be out until at least Dec. 16
• Coby White — Expected to be out until at least Dec. 14
• Javonte Green — Expected to be out until at least Dec. 14

Zach LaVine and Troy Brown Jr. were the latest Bulls to enter league protocols Sunday. LaVine is expected to be sidelined at a minimum of 10 days, but could be back sooner if he records two negative tests in a 24-hour period.

Bulls center Nikola Vucevic also recently returned to game action after his own bout with COVID-19. The Bulls have been testing players and coaches multiple times per day amid the team-wide outbreak. The good news is that Bulls players are vaccinated, so they’re not dealing with too many severe symptoms. 

“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 when healthy. Chicago currently sits third in the Eastern Conference standings with a 17-10 record. Though not ideal, the Bulls have done their best to persevere. 

“It is a scary time,” Donovan added. “Our guys have really done a good job of just trying to put their best foot forward to try to really stay locked in on, ‘This is what I have to do,’ or, ‘This is what I can control,’ and try to move forward with it.”  

As long as they don’t lose any more players to the league’s protocols, the Bulls likely won’t have to have any of their games postponed, but the situation obviously isn’t ideal nonetheless.