Lonzo Ball became the third Chicago Bulls player to enter the league’s COVID-19 protocols Sunday. Ball joined teammates Tony Bradley and Alfonzo McKinnie after coach Billy Donovan entered the NBA protocols Thursday.
Sunday marked the first day of increased testing throughout the league to prevent further outbreaks due to the Christmas holiday. Starting Dec. 26, all players and coaches will be tested on game days unless they are 14 days removed from their booster shot. Players and staff will also be required to increase mask wearing on the sidelines of games and during team activities such as bus rides and practices.
The Bulls were enjoying a wave of excitement after the final batch of players previously remaining in the protocols were cleared earlier this week, including star guard Zach LaVine. The Bulls have placed 11 players in the protocols in that span, although Devon Dotson tested out within 48 hours.
Donovan joked Wednesday that he suddenly had too many players to rotate, but that enthusiasm quickly changed for the Bulls. The team has now placed 14 players and one coach in COVID-19 protocols in December. Center Nikola Vučević previously spent 11 days in quarantine with the virus in November.
Only three active players on the Bulls roster haven’t entered the COVID-19 protocols this season — Alex Caruso, Tyler Cook and Marko Simonović. None of the players who tested positive experienced serious symptoms, and Donovan said most of the Bulls were asymptomatic. LaVine expressed optimism about the outbreak’s ability to fortify the team against the virus in the future.
“Hopefully we have herd immunity coming back and we won’t have any more guys go down in the later months,” LaVine said after practice Wednesday. “I’m just thankful everybody is OK and everybody’s families are OK. Now we can get things rolling again as a full group.”
The NBA has battled COVID-19 outbreaks this month as variants and a holiday-related surge swept through the country. More than 100 players landed in the league’s health and safety protocols in December. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the omicron variant accounted for 90% of positive cases.
Three Bulls games were postponed due to COVID-19 — two due to the Bulls’ outbreak, and Wednesday night’s game against Toronto due to an outbreak among the Raptors.
Assistant Chris Fleming will take on interim coaching duties during Donovan’s absence. Fleming is expected to fill in through games against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday at the United Center and the Hawks on Monday in Atlanta.
The Bulls will also instate stricter guidelines for fans in attendance at the United Center in January. The tam will require proof of vaccination for all fans over the age of 5 in correspondence with the city’s new indoor vaccination requirement policies beginning on Jan. 3.
