CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls will reinstate daily COVID-19 testing after guard Coby White tested positive ahead of the team’s two-game trip to New York, coach Billy Donovan said Wednesday.
White is the second Bulls player to test positive for COVID-19 in the last month. Center Nikola Vučević tested positive on Nov. 11 and spent 11 days in isolation before he was finally cleared to return. The isolation period took its toll on Vučević, who remains on a minutes restriction as he fights to regain his form.
The entire Bulls roster received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccination, which allowed the team to relax its testing requirements. The NBA doesn’t require regular testing for vaccinated players. But the Bulls will return to rigorous daily testing as positive tests continue to hamper the team’s season.
The positive test sets back White, who has been enjoying a resurgent run of games after missing the start of the season with his recovery from surgery on a torn labrum. White averaged 6.1 points per game through his first nine games.
Guard Zach LaVine is also fighting illness despite testing negative for COVID-19 throughout the week. LaVine ran a fever ahead of Monday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets, and Donovan said the guard “didn’t look good” physically despite scoring 25 points in the win.
LaVine didn’t practice Wednesday due to continued symptoms, but will travel to New York with the team.
The Bulls will face the Knicks on Thursday and the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday as New York braces for the expected arrival of the COVID-19 omicron variant. The mutation of the virus has yet to be detected there, but New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency last week and Mayor Bill de Blasio re-upped the city’s indoor mask recommendation.
All fans 12 or older attending both games will be required to provide proof of vaccination or a negative test. Masks will be mandatory at both Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center.
