2 min read • December 14, 2021
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The Bulls are suffering through the first major covid outbreak of the 2021-22 season, as 10 players are in protocols as of Monday at 6 p.m PST.. The mass cases have spurred the NBA to postpone Chicago’s next 2 games, Dec. 14 versus the Pistons and Dec. 16 against the Raptors in Toronto, the first contests to be affected by COVID-19 this season (in part because of concern shared by Chicago’s department of public health, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski).
The extra time off will hopefully slow the potential spread to more teams, as well as give the infected Bulls the chance to return to the team, as protocols stipulate a player must remain isolated and without symptoms for at least 10 days or post 2 negative PCR tests over 24 hours apart before coming back. As Chicago grapples with trying to fill the void left by key players DeMar DeRozan, Zach Lavine, Javonte Green, and Derrick Jones Jr for (potentially) the near future, the question must be asked: which teams could see positive COVID-19 tests in their future?
Let’s back up a couple of weeks: on Nov. 29, the Bulls and Hornets played, and at the time no players on either team had been placed in the health-and-safety protocols. 2 days later, Coby White tested positive, and by Dec. 6, 8 different players from the 2 teams were in protocols. Another hotbed game could have already been played since then: In the last week, the Bulls played the Nuggets on Dec. 6, the Cavaliers on Dec. 8, and the Heat on Dec. 11. Each of those contests included at least 2 Chicago players who would test positive within the next 3 days.
Denver (13-13) is already without key contributors Michael Porter Jr., Jamal Murray, and P.J. Dozier for the season, and will be missing JaMychal Green on Monday, and Miami (16-11) is currently missing Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Markieff Morris, and Caleb Martin for at least its upcoming 4-game road trip. The Cavs (16-12) lost Collin Sexton for the season and have weathered absences from Evan Mobley, Lauri Makannen, and Kevin Love, the last 2 to COVID-19 (an important note: The Cavaliers and Heat are playing each other on Monday night).
Potential exposure to the likes of Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, Tyler Herro, and Kyle Lowry will be something to watch for in the upcoming days. Although the information is constantly evolving, the CDC states that COVID-19 symptoms present themselves between 2-14 days after a person is exposed, meaning Nuggets players could start showing symptoms and testing positive now even though the game was a week ago. Additionally, you can test negative even after contracting the virus if it was early enough in the infection stage.
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