The Chicago Bulls have faced a consistent opponent on and off the court in the last week — COVID-19.
Matt Thomas on Wednesday became the fourth Bulls player to enter the league’s COVID-19 protocols. Thomas traveled to Cleveland with the team Tuesday night but was ruled out of Wednesday night’s game against the Cavaliers. Thomas will join teammates DeMar DeRozan (Dec. 6), Javonte Green (Dec. 3) and Coby White (Dec. 1), who tested positive in the last 8 days.
DeRozan tested positive hours before the Bulls’ game against the Denver Nuggets on Monday. He did not travel to Cleveland and will not be cleared for this weekend’s games in Miami.
With four players in COVID-19 protocol and Alex Caruso sidelined with a hamstring injury, the Bulls now qualify for a hardship exception and could sign an additional player. But in the meantime, the team is down to only 11 players against the Cavaliers.
The looming concern of an outbreak is now a reality. So what does this mean for the Bulls amid their chase for the top spot in the East?
In the short term, DeRozan’s absence seems like the most drastic hurdle.
The basis of the Bulls’ success this season is the fact they are built to be a multistar team. DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević trade duties as top scorer on a nightly basis, allowing coach Billy Donovan heightened versatility to attack opponents. But with their roster already diminished, the Bulls will be hard-pressed to replace DeRozan’s 26.4 points per game — and his absence will be most evident in the fourth quarter.
DeRozan has become the closer for the Bulls, launching into a different mode in the final quarter of tight games. The forward has scored 178 points — the best in the NBA — in fourth quarters this season, shooting 53% from the field and 90% from the free-throw line to clinch comebacks and fend off last-minute opponent surges.
Without DeRozan, the Bulls need even bigger performances from LaVine and consistency from Ball and Vučević. The loss of DeRozan’s mid-range jumper will also tighten up defenses, who won’t need to challenge the forward every time he pulls up inside the arc.
The steepest challenge for the Bulls, however, might be the uncertainty of recovery. DeRozan and his teammates must return two negative PCR tests within 48 hours to be cleared to return to team activities and practice. It took Vučević 11 days to be cleared when he contracted the virus in November, and even after he tested negative team doctors required several days of testing before the center could play again.
Despite increased testing and team-wide vaccinations, it’s unclear if or when this outbreak will stop sidelining players. The Bulls are currently requiring daily testing — and players are sometimes tested multiple times a day — but testing can only catch positive cases, not prevent them.
The Bulls have been bolstered by the fact that every player on the roster is vaccinated. Although the COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t prevent individuals from contracting the virus, it does diminish symptoms and long-term effects. Bulls players have only described “cold-like” symptoms for the virus so far — light fever, exhaustion, upper respiratory symptoms such as a cough.
Vučević passed physical and cardiovascular tests almost immediately after his 11-day quarantine for COVID-19. The center struggled to regain fitness quickly after not being allowed to run, lift or shoot for nearly two weeks, but he hasn’t reported any lingering effects. In the weeks since his return, Vučević averaged 17.8 points in 32 minutes per game, recording a season-high 30-point performance against Charlotte 18 days after returning his first positive test.
Vaccine boosters could also help the Bulls stave off the oncoming concern of the omicron variant. Bulls players received their second doses of the Pfizer vaccine in May and qualify for booster shots. Pfizer announced Wednesday that the booster shot will protect against the latest variant of the virus.
Donovan said he expects the NBA to tighten team testing restrictions ahead of the winter holidays, which can cause a spike in cases throughout the country because of travel and tourism. However, the league has yet to announce any changes to COVID-19 protocol.
The Bulls went 3-0 since the start of the outbreak. That resilience will be tested Wednesday in Cleveland as the Bulls fight to maintain their standing with a short-handed lineup.
