Lakers guard Russell Westbrook has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin (Twitter link). Lakers guard Avery Bradley has also been placed in the protocols, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Westbrook and Bradley are the fourth and fifth Lakers to enter the protocols within the last three days, joining teammates Talen Horton-Tucker, Dwight Howard, and Malik Monk.
It’s unclear if the two Lakers guards have registered confirmed positive tests for COVID-19, but if they have, they’ll be sidelined for at least 10 days or until he returns two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart.
The news of Westbrook and Bradley entering the protocols coincides with reports that the Lakers have agreed to sign Isaiah Thomas to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception. Westbrook’s and Bradley’s absences should open the door for Thomas to get some run at the point guard spot.
Here are a few more COVID-related updates from around the NBA:
- Cavaliers forward Isaac Okoro has entered the health and safety protocols, sources tell Kelsey Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). No other Cavs players are currently in the protocols, so we’ll have to wait to see if Okoro is a one-off or if any of his teammates join him in the coming days. If Okoro tested positive for COVID-19, he’ll be in the protocols for at least 10 days or until he returns two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart.
- Bulls head coach Billy Donovan told reporters, including Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, that Coby White and Javonte Green are the only two players on the team who have cleared the health and safety protocols and have been conducting individual workouts. That leaves eight players in the protocols, and many of them – including Zach LaVine, Ayo Dosunmu, Alize Johnson, and Troy Brown Jr. – may not be back until after Christmas, according to Donovan.
- Raptors big man Precious Achiuwa has cleared the health and safety protocols, tweets Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Koreen also provides a few injury updates on Raptors players — Dalano Banton (illness) is good to go, while OG Anunoby (hip) and Khem Birch (knee) will be listed as questionable for the club’s game vs. Golden State on Saturday.
That’s a 2nd time for each player. Westbrook while with the rockets and bradley with the heat.. the way they celebrated with reeves last night, I expect to be more
Reeves is the GOAT
Lakers are DECIMATED
Last time covid hit the League they ended bubble champs …
Xmas games in jeopardy …
Looks like that’s case closed on the vax effectiveness.
The vaccine was developed for The original Covid virus, we are now on the 5th (?) variant so it no surprise that is not as effective at stopping infection but it is still effective at lessening symptoms.
Natural selection favors viruses that can infect hosts quicker and reproduce faster. That will continue until there are not enough hosts to sustain transmission. Can you guess how that happens? A very high percentage of the population needs to be vaccinated effectively. In this case, it may be the booster or possibly another booster developed for omicron. Natural selection and evolution are not going stop just because people are sick and tired of worrying about covid.
I am not going to once again explain how vaccines work. Please go read some science.
Monk came out after 2 days. How many of theses are false positives? If they are positives, the symptoms are light which is what they are designed to do. Kuzma was out after 3 days. So they are contracting covid but their immune system is fighting it off with the vaccine. So if anything it’s showing the vaccines working. It was never claimed the vaccine was 100%. It claimed you wouldn’t get deathly sick with covid