While Bulls-Raptors game seems tenuous, Silver says NBA won't halt season
The worst appears to be over when it comes to the Bulls' omicron outbreak. But the spread has continued around the NBA.
Wednesday's home game against Toronto could be in jeopardy because the Raptors had seven players in health and safety protocols as of Tuesday evening.
There were reports the Raptors did fly to Chicago and are preparing to play. But if they lose more players Wednesday, the game status could obviously change. A Bulls-Raptors game in Toronto last week was postponed when the Bulls had 10 players in protocols.
There were several updates involving the Bulls on Tuesday. Guard Devon Dotson entered health and safety protocols, according to the injury report. Forward Troy Brown Jr. is out of protocols and listed as questionable for Wednesday's game.
There were reports the Bulls plan to sign two more hardship players - guard Mac McClung, a rookie guard from Texas Tech who had been playing for the Lakers' G-League team, and veteran forward Ersan Ilyasova. The team did not officially announce any transactions by early evening.
Alex Caruso left Monday's win over Houston with a left mid-foot sprain and is listed as out for Wednesday, as is Derrick Jones Jr. due to a left hamstring strain. Zach LaVine, Ayo Dosunmu, Alize Johnson and Matt Thomas remain in protocols for the time being.
Meanwhile, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said there are no plans to halt the season temporarily, even though the number of players in protocols is soaring.
"We've of course looked at all the options, but frankly we're have trouble coming up with what the logic would be behind pausing right now," Silver said on ESPN's "NBA Today."
"As we look through these cases literally ripping through the country right now, putting aside the rest of the world, I think we're finding ourselves where we sort of knew we were going to get to for the past several months and that is that this virus will not be eradicated. We're going to have to learn to live with it and I think that's what we're experiencing in the league right now."
In 2020, the NBA was the first league to suspend operations due to the pandemic and was largely responsible for the country taking the virus seriously when a game between Utah and Oklahoma City was halted just before tipoff due to Rudy Gobert's positive test.
Silver talked about the league now trying to be on the forefront of moving forward in a safe manner. He said NBA players are 97% vaccinated, 65% have gotten the booster and he's hoping to get the booster numbers into the high 90s.
"Maybe we can demonstrate that there's a way that people can move forward, again recognizing that this virus unfortunately isn't going anywhere and it's just going to become part of our lives for the foreseeable future," Silver said.
Silver said the league is looking at shortening the 10-day isolation period for players who are both fully vaccinated and boostered.
"Based on the data the NBA has, the boosters are highly effective and we are strongly encouraging everyone to get them," Silver said. "Of players and coaches that have gone through the three-shot protocol ... only a very small number of those people have then been breakthrough cases where they've turned positive and they essentially have been asymptomatic or very mild symptoms."
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Raptors had seven players in health and safety protocols and two others out for different reasons. So Toronto is expecting to have six regulars - OG Anunoby, Chris Boucher, Khem Birch, Isaac Bonga, Svi Mykhailiuk and Yuta Watanabe - plus likely four newly signed replacements. The Raptors plan to sign former lottery pick Nik Stauskas, former Hawks guard Brandon Goodwin and a couple others, according to reports.
"Of course there's a certain amount of unfairness that comes with playing in certain cases with some teams where particular players are out because of COVID protocols," Silver said. "But the other advantage is we do have an 82-game season and we have a long playoffs. My sense is things will work out by the end of the season."
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports