NBA Postpones Chicago Bulls Next Two Games Due To COVID-19 Outbreak
For the first time in the 2021 NBA season, games are being postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak.
On Monday, the NBA announced that the next two Chicago Bulls games will be postponed due to ten Chicago players being placed in the NBA’s Health and Safety protocols.
“The Chicago Bulls’ next two games — Tuesday, Dec. 14 against the Detroit Pistons and Thursday, Dec. 16 against Toronto — have been postponed,” the NBA said in a statement. “Ten Bulls players, along with additional staff members, are currently in the NBA’s Health and Safety protocols.”
Bulls forward Alize Johnson tested positive on Monday, becoming the 10th player to be unavailable, and leaving Chicago with only eight eligible players.
Last week, Chicago star DeMar DeRozan was entered into the NBA’s health and safety protocols prior to Monday’s matchup against the Denver Nuggets.
Head coach Billy Donovan was asked whether he was surprised considering the vaccination status of his team — the Bulls are reportedly 100% vaccinated.
“It’s pretty clear just from a national standpoint — forget the NBA — people that are vaccinated are getting COVID,” Donovan said before “That’s happened. I think because of the NBA being such a small business, so to speak, with players that have got national recognition, you see it a lot more. But I think for people that have been vaccinated that are just out there as citizens, they’re testing positive too.”
“I don’t think anybody was under the premise that just because you’re going to be vaccinated that you have no chance of getting COVID,” he continued. “I think that’s been proven pretty much to be the case, that you still have the possibility. The hope is, by being vaccinated, that maybe the symptoms aren’t as severe. You’re not dealing with some of the things that maybe you have to deal with if you’re unvaccinated. It’s just what we’re all going through.”
Over the weekend, four more Bulls players were made unavailable — Ayo Dosunmu, Stanley Johnson, Zach LaVine and Troy Brown Jr. They joined Coby White, Javonte Green, DeRozan, Matt Thomas, and Derrick Jones Jr.
Donovon said that most players are dealing with either mild symptoms or none at all.
“Maybe some of it’s because of the vaccination, we’ve got a lot of guys sitting at home with no symptoms right now,” Donovan said. “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.”
Chicago is currently 17-10, sitting in third place in the Eastern Conference.
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].
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