The Chicago Bulls will be without their leading scorer for an undetermined amount of time.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Chicago All-Star guard Zach LaVine has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols and “is expected to miss several games.” Chicago scrapped Thursday’s practice due to concerns related to the protocols, although it’s not officially known if LaVine or anybody associated with the team tested positive for COVID-19.
Per ESPN stats, LaVine leads the Bulls with a career-high 27.5 points per game and is also averaging 5.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists.
Chicago fell to the Orlando Magic 115-106 on Wednesday and has lost four straight to drop to 22-32 on the season and 10th in the Eastern Conference standings. The Bulls possess the conference’s final play-in tournament berth but likely wouldn’t do much of note in the playoffs if they qualified.
Chicago is scheduled to host the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, but the status of that game may be up in the air depending on coronavirus concerns hovering over the Bulls. On Wednesday, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association announced that no new players recorded positive COVID-19 results across the latest week of testing.
