The Toronto Raptors were scheduled to take on Zach LaVine and the Chicago Bulls tonight in what should’ve been a matchup of Eastern Conference playoff contenders. Unfortunately, the pandemic decided to interfere with this game.
Toronto already expected to come in short-handed, as power forward Pascal Siakam, head coach Nick Nurse, and five other members of the coaching staff missed their win against the Houston Rockets due to the league’s health and safety protocols.
While Toronto expected to be shorthanded in this game, the latest bombshell confirmed that this game will, unfortunately, have to be made up at a later date in the name of keeping everyone else safe.
The Raptors’ game against Chicago was postponed due to ongoing contact tracing. Because of the league’s health and safety protocols, the Raptors didn’t have the league-mandated eight minimum players to play in this game. Shams Charania is reporting that there have been some positive test results.
Due to positive test results and ongoing contact tracing within Raptors, the team does not have the league-required eight available players to proceed. https://t.co/xaFRktmWl4
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 28, 2021
The Raptors will not play against the Bulls due to contact tracing
Considering how seven different members of the roster and coaching staff missed the win over Houston, the fact that a large chunk of the roster is being examined in order to determine if they tested positive is by no means surprising.
The league’s protocols state that the only way to return to work is to either wait 10 days after a first positive test or test negative twice in a 24-hour span. This delay might mean it could be a while before the Raptors return to the floor, but it minimizes the chances of a potential outbreak within the team.
It remains unclear which players and staff have tested positive. The Raptors have largely managed to follow the protocols and play a good chunk of their season without interruption, but the last few days have shown that even being hyper-vigilant in this pandemic is no guarantee that a full 72-game schedule can be played without interruptions.
All Raptors fans can do right now is cross their fingers and hope that tracing gets done as soon as possible, any potential positive tests are identified and isolated, and Toronto can get back to playing as soon as possible.