The NBA has postponed the Bulls‘ game in Chicago on Tuesday vs. the Pistons, reports Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). The league is also postponing the Bulls’ game in Toronto against the Raptors on Thursday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
The Bulls have 10 players in the league’s health and safety protocols related to COVID-19. With Patrick Williams also sidelined due to a long-term wrist injury, Chicago has just eight active players. The club also has staff members and commentators in the protocols.
Typically, the NBA won’t postpone a game unless a team has fewer than eight players available, but the league is playing it safe in this instance to allow the Bulls to get a little healthier and to avoid risking further spread of COVID-19, tweets Wojnarowski.
Woj adds (via Twitter) that Chicago’s Department of Public Health was concerned about the Bulls continuing to play this week, which was a factor in the league’s decision.
Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Ayo Dosunmu, Derrick Jones Jr., Troy Brown Jr., Matt Thomas, Stanley Johnson, Alize Johnson, Coby White, and Javonte Green are the Bulls players in the protocols. White and Green are reportedly the closest to returning to action, but haven’t yet been fully cleared.
Last season, dozens of games were postponed due to COVID-19 outbreaks and/or contact tracing. While a number of players have entered the league’s health and safety protocols after testing positive this season, the schedule hadn’t been affected at all until now — these are the first two postponements of the 2021/22 campaign.
Thankfully the NBA came to their senses with this issue. The Bulls are reportedly 100% vaccinated and still are dealing with this. To keep asking them to play was criminal.
I’m ready to go if the Bulls call!
called it… shoulda been done sooner (ask Caleb Martin)
Outrageous!!!
I wrote earlier today the League needed to shut the Bulls down, so thank goodness they finally did!
This is so UNFAIR!! Sixers only had 7 active players and STILL had to CONTINUE!! Just shows how BIASED NBA really is!!
Maybe they are learning from past mistakes. Isn’t that actually a good thing?