Chicago Bulls assistant coaches Chris Fleming and Damian Cotter will not travel to Milwaukee for Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Bucks after testing positive for COVID-19 this week, coach Billy Donovan said Friday.
Both coaches are experiencing cold-like symptoms but have been actively contributing to team meetings through video calls. Donovan said the Bulls are unsure when Fleming or Cotter will be cleared to return.
“We’re all concerned,” Donovan said. “You try to be as safe as you can as much as you can. I don’t know if it’s going back up again, but that’s certainly a challenge when that happens.”
COVID-19 began making an impact on the NBA playoffs when Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George tested positive Friday morning, sidelining him for the team’s play-in game. But it’s unclear how COVID-19 testing will affect postseason teams.
The Bulls were one of the teams hit hardest by the winter wave of the omicron variant, which resulted in in December and January. But now, most of the Bulls roster hasn’t been required to test daily under NBA policy.
Donovan said the NBA affords a 90-day window without testing after individuals test positive for COVID-19 or receive a booster shot. Since nearly every person on the Bulls game day bench received a positive test or a booster shot in the last three months, most of the team weren’t in a regular testing cadence entering the postseason.
The 90-day exclusion applies even after a member of the roster or staff tests positive. Donovan said he wasn’t required to test after Fleming and Cotter tested positive.
As mask and vaccine mandates eased throughout Chicago and greater Illinois, Tristan Thompson reflected the loosened mentality many have begun to adopt about the pandemic.
“Y’all still testing?” Thompson jokingly asked media after being informed of George’s positive test. “That’s some (expletive).”
Despite those loosened restrictions, COVID-19 numbers are seeing a slight increase because of the BA.2 subvariant, . Philadelphia recently reinstated its city mask mandate as cases began to rise.
The Bulls do not plan to institute higher levels of COVID-19 testing or restrictions as they enter the NBA playoffs, but Thompson and Donovan said the team is aware of the risks after most of the roster caught the virus earlier this season.
“You’ve got to be safe. Hopefully knock on wood, we don’t get any of those scares or mishaps,” Thompson said. “I think this team has had enough setbacks this season with all the COVID and injuries. I think we probably used up all our paid vacation days. Hopefully we can keep everyone at work and healthy and safe.”
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