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Just as injury heals, Bulls forward Caruso enters protocols

With the state of infectious diseases in the NBA, it seemed inevitable this was going to happen.

Just as Bulls guard Alex Caruso was ready to return to full practice Wednesday after recovering from a left foot sprain, he entered health and safety protocols. Coach Billy Donovan delivered the news at the Advocate Center.

"Was doing really, really well," Donovan said. "We were hoping to have him in practice today, but he's in health and safety protocols right now. So I don't know how long that will last, but he was unable to participate today."

Caruso has been out with the foot sprain since playing just six minutes against Houston on Dec. 20.

The 6-4 forward has been an important part of the Bulls' turnaround, especially on the defensive end. He's averaging 8.4 points and an NBA-best 2.0 steals per game.

Besides Caruso, the only other players on the Bulls roster who had not been in protocols were forward Tyler Cook, who is on a two-way contract, and new addition Mac McClung. Guard Devon Dotson was briefly in protocols a couple weeks ago, but tested out and was back on the court after a day or two.

Dotson's experience brings some hope that maybe Caruso had a false positive and could return sooner than 10 days, but that remains to be seen.

"They'll continue to test him to get a little bit more of an accurate number of where his counts are and where he's at right now," Donovan said. "He'll have to stay there until we find out more."

Another unknown is if the NBA will shorten the isolation period for those who test positive for COVID-19. So far, every Bulls player except Dotson has been sidelined for at least 10 days.

At the moment, Caruso is the only Bulls player in protocols, since Marko Simonovic was back at practice Wednesday and Tony Bradley was cleared Sunday.

Donovan recently spent 10 days in protocols and said he felt mild symptoms, but nothing that would have stopped him from reporting to work in normal times.

"I think a lot of it's going to predicated on what kind of symptoms guys had," Donovan said. "I think Tony (Bradley), for example, he was sick. I think he felt pretty sick. So that's a little bit different. So the league and our medical people are taking the symptoms and evaluating the symptoms and they're looking at your count.

"So I think for some of these guys that are not really dealing with significant symptoms; they're not running fevers and not in bed and dealing with exhaustion. I think those guys maybe a little bit of an easier time coming back sooner than later, the way it was set up."

The good news for the Bulls is despite all the players moving in and out of the lineup, they've gone 11-2 since the team's outbreak began on Dec. 1. They've won eight in a row and sit atop the Eastern Conference standings, but the schedule gets tougher starting next week.

"I give our guys credit," Donovan said. "They put the team first. They understand they've got to keep themselves ready when called upon when guys go out. As we have more and more players and a bigger allotment of players, everybody's minutes are going to be affected to a certain standpoint."

Windy City returns:

The G-League's Windy City Bulls are scheduled to play their first game since Dec. 1 on Wednesday at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. The team has been on a long hiatus due to a COVID outbreak that affected both players and the coaching staff.

Billy Donovan said after practice the plan is for Bulls players Devon Dotson and Mac McClung to suit up for Windy City against the Motor City Cruise. Marko Simonovic, just out of protocols, is not expected to play, but Windy City should have leading scorer Daniel Oturu back after he completed a 10-day contract with the Toronto Raptors.

Twitter: @McGrawDHSports

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