The Chicago Bulls‘ teamwide COVID-19 outbreak continued to spread on Sunday, when Zach LaVine and Troy Brown Jr. entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Their additions bring the Bulls’ total to nine players in the league’s COVID-19 protocols since the start of the month.
LaVine and Brown join DeMar DeRozan, Coby White, Javonte Green, Matt Thomas, Derrick Jones Jr., Ayo Dosunmu and Stanley Johnson as players all sidelined right now. Bulls broadcasters Stacey King and Bill Wennington are also at home in isolation because of the league’s protocols.
The Bulls do not play again until they host the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night, but Chicago currently has nine players available on its roster, and White and Green will be eligible to rejoin the team this week. The NBA used an eight-player minimum as a threshold before postponing games during team outbreaks last season.
Because the Bulls have positive cases, their players are required to test every day. Current guidelines don’t require players on many teams to be tested daily. Players who are vaccinated — but not boosted — will be tested on game days beginning on Friday. Unvaccinated players are required to test daily, and non-boosted Johnson & Johnson-vaccinated players were required to begin game-day testing earlier this month.
The NBA says 97% of its players are vaccinated, and sources told Wojnarowski that more than 60% of players are boosted.
