At this point, it seems like essentially all of the Toronto Raptors‘ original team will be missing as they take on the Chicago Bulls and second-year head coach Billy Donovan at the United Center in the Windy City on the night of Dec. 22. But two of the most recent losses due to the health and safety protocol for the Raptors came on the afternoon of Dec. 21, first reported by ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter.
Woj reported that the Raptors saw the likes of forwards Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa enter the league’s health and safety protocol early this week. That now means that the Raptors are missing arguably their top three players as they get set to take on the Bulls on Dec. 22.
The Raptors are now missing the likes of star forward Pascal Siakam, standout point guard Fred VanFleet, Barnes, and Achiuwa, among many others, due to the health and safety protocol. This looks to leave the Raptors with less than eight of their original players in the 15-man rotation thanks to COVID-19-related issues.
Scottie Barnes joins a lengthy list of Raptors players out vs. Chicago Bulls
The Raptors charter is taxiing on runway to take flight to Chicago, source tells ESPN. They have 7 players in protocols, injuries and appears 6 regular players -- plus replacements rushing to scene -- available to play the Bulls on Wednesday.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 21, 2021
Toronto's Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa have entered the league's Covid protocols, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/XhzPWEpcwB
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 21, 2021
It’s not just these four players that are missing for the Raptors due to the health and safety protocol either. Woj described the Raptors as having to “rush” players to the team to get them available to play against the Bulls on this night.
Just adding the likes of Barnes and Achiuwa to the list of players missing due to the health and safety protocol adds more fuel to the proverbial COVID-19 fire for the Raptors right now.
In fact, the only player that the Raptors have available for this game that is averaging at least 10 points per game so far this season is small forward OG Anunoby. The other players scoring in the double-digit this season for the Raptors are all in the health and safety protocol.
This could be an issue for a while for the Raptors. They were already one of the teams that had a game postponed last week that was set to come against the Bulls. That game was originally supposed to happen on Dec. 16.
All of this is a mess right now for the NBA. There are teams scrambling to put together rosters for games, but there are going to be a lot of teams at a disadvantage right now. That is something that the Bulls faced a couple of weeks ago when they lost by double digits to both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat.