Chicago Bulls: Team meets as no one shows COVID-19 symptoms
K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reported that no one on the Chicago Bulls is sporting symptoms of novel coronavirus as of March 17.
Although this doesn’t necessarily mean that the NBA is going to move any closer to getting its 2019-20 regular season out of hiatus mode, the Chicago Bulls holding their first team meeting of the week is definitely a good sign. This was apparently the first team gathering/meeting since they returned on a flight from Orlando ahead of what was scheduled to be a March 12 road game against the Orlando Magic.
The NBA originally puts its season on hiatus on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for novel coronavirus ahead of a matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder. A teammate of Gobert’s, guard Donovan Mitchell, would later test positive for COVID-19, as would Detroit Pistons big man Christian Wood.
However, the Bulls haven’t had any players yet test positive for COVID-19. But they still reportedly (K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago) met for the first team gathering since returning from Orlando to discuss COVID-19 precautions and plans moving forward.
As reported last week, no Bulls were symptomatic and were given specific instructions on what to do if they developed COVID-19 symptoms. As reported then, these instructions included a place to go for testing if symptoms developed.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) March 17, 2020
Johnson also reported that no players were showing symptoms as of the afternoon of March 17. But all Bulls players apparently have instructions of what to do if they start showing symptoms that could be linked to COVID-19. And when the Bulls players met at the Advocate Center on March 16, they apparently sat at least six feet away from each other.
This news for the Bulls comes in the midst of the announcement that four players for the Brooklyn Nets tested positive for COVID-19 on March 17. The only player that is identified of the four that tested positive on the Nets is superstar forward Kevin Durant. And one of those four Nets players is showing symptoms while the other three aren’t (per team’s official release on March 17).
A statement from the Brooklyn Nets: pic.twitter.com/QnETcDEHCJ
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) March 17, 2020
Kevin Durant tested positive for coronavirus, Durant tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Durant says he is feeling fine: "Everyone be careful, take care of yourself and quarantine. We're going to get through this."
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 17, 2020
But it sounds like Durant is doing fine for the time being. He told Shams Charania of The Athletic that he is “feeling fine”. That was included on the post on Charania’s Twitter timeline on March 17.
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The Bulls saw their 2019-20 put on hiatus after beating the Cleveland Cavaliers at home at the United Center on March 10 by the final score of 108-103. Their next scheduled game was set to come on March 12 against the Magic.