Zach LaVine will miss Game 5 after the Chicago Bulls star enters health and safety protocols for 3rd time in the last year – Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Bulls spent most of the regular season at the mercy of the injury report — including Patrick Williams’ early setback, Lonzo Ball’s season-ender and a rash of 18 players and staff testing positive for COVID-19.

And that’s how the team appears set to end the season after Zach LaVine entered health and safety protocols Tuesday morning on the eve of a potential elimination game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

LaVine will be out for Game 5 of the first-round series, which tips off at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Coach Billy Donovan said LaVine underwent COVID-19 testing Tuesday morning after “not feeling great” and returned a positive test shortly before the Bulls took the court for practice. The Bulls drove up to Milwaukee without LaVine.

LaVine has averaged 19.3 points on 42.9% shooting in the first four games of the series. He is one of three Bulls players — with DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević — to average double-digit scoring in the series.

But LaVine’s impact goes beyond scoring statistics — he’s the core of the Bulls offense, inextricable from the team’s identity.

“He’s Zach. It’s hard to replace that,” DeRozan said. “Who he is, the attention that he brings — it’s a different dynamic of a game when Zach isn’t out there. We’re just going to have to figure that out (Wednesday) night. We’ve got to find energy to fight for him.’’

This was supposed to be LaVine’s moment. After eight long seasons filled mostly with losses and frustration, he finally found a scoring partner in DeRozan and a shot at the NBA postseason. Center Tristan Thompson affectionately dubbed the playoffs the “Zach LaVine coming-out party” in the week leading up to Game 1 in Milwaukee.

But nothing has come easy this season for LaVine, who is now in his third protocol round in the last year.

LaVine tested positive for COVID-19 last April, missing several weeks during the Bulls’ push to make the play-in tournament. He tested positive again in December during the leaguewide outbreak amid the omicron variant surge. LaVine said he was asymptomatic during both bouts of the virus.

Even when COVID concerns dwindled, LaVine’s health remained in the spotlight as he struggled to overcome nagging swelling and soreness in his left knee. After favoring his knee during the second half of Game 4 on Sunday, LaVine quipped that he had been “limping all year.”

Testing positive for COVID-19 one day before the first playoff elimination game of his career is the latest blow.

DeRozan called LaVine in the morning before the test results came back, offering positivity as LaVine lamented the possibility of missing Game 5.

“I think he was more frustrated than anything, honestly,” DeRozan said. “That frustration outweighed anything else regardless of how he felt.”

Most Bulls players and staff have not been testing for several months per NBA protocol, which Donovan said allows individuals to wait 90 days after testing positive or receiving a booster shot to begin testing again. The policy doesn’t change after individuals on a team return positive tests.

Chicago Tribune Sports

Weekdays

A daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.

Bulls assistant coaches Chris Fleming and Damian Cotter missed Games 1 and 2 after testing positive the week before the series began. At that time, Donovan said most of the Bulls players and coaches were not required to participate in a regular testing cadence because of previous positive tests or booster vaccinations. Donovan wasn’t required to test even after his assistant coaches tested positive.

With Alex Caruso in concussion protocol, the Bulls will be down two starters for a must-win game. Caruso took an accidental blow to the face from the Bucks’ Jevon Carter in the second quarter of Game 4. He remained symptomatic Tuesday and was not allowed to practice or travel with the team to Milwaukee.

Donovan likely will start Coby White and rookie Ayo Dosunmu with Caruso and LaVine out. Both made their playoff debuts in this series and have combined for 32.4 minutes and 9.3 points per game.

The Bucks also will be short-staffed after starting forward Khris Middleton sprained the MCL in his left knee during Game 2. But with the Bulls already against the ropes after two brutal home losses, the Bucks will take their home court with an extreme upper hand to close the series.

The potential lack of experience in the Bulls starting lineup only adds to the responsibility on DeRozan and Vučević. The Bulls bench hasn’t offered much this series — averaging 14.3 points in the first four games — which could leave the veteran duo isolated under smothering pressure from the Bucks.

“Obviously more and more’s going to fall on DeMar and me,” Vučević said. “Being more aggressive, whether that’s taking more shots or creating more opportunities for others, making decisions. But at the same time we also still have to continue to play within our way of playing and make sure we involve everybody.”