Bulls' active roster at 10 vs Heat due to safety protocols

Published Dec. 11, 2021 7:54 p.m. ET
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — The Bulls will be without Ayo Dosunmu and Stanley Johnson for Saturday’s game against the Miami Heat after the guards were placed on health and safety protocols, reducing Chicago’s active roster to 10 players.

Johnson signed a 10-day contract on Thursday after the club lost leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, as well as Matt Thomas, Coby White, Javonte Green and Derrick Jones to health and safety protocols.

“All this for us is trusting people in the league from the medical side of it and trusting what’s best in terms of the safety, not only of your team, but the team we’re playing against,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said. “The hard part, to be quite honest, is that we certainly want to protect all of these guys. We have a lot of guys sitting back home with no symptoms.”

Also, the Heat learned Saturday that forward Caleb Martin was placed on health and safety protocols. Martin scored a career-high 28 points in Miami’s home win against Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

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Miami already is missing leading scorer Jimmy Butler (bruised tailbone) and center Bam Adebayo, who is expected to miss four to six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligament on his right thumb.

“I was just informed in the last 10 minutes,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said of Martin’s update when he met with the media before the game.

Donovan said that Jones, who went into protocols during the team’s stay in Miami, has returned to Chicago and is not with the team.

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