Lakers coach Frank Vogel enters NBA’s COVID protocols
CHICAGO — Lakers coach Frank Vogel and wing Kent Bazemore have entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols as the team continues to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak as it wraps up a three-game road trip.
The Lakers announced the results Sunday morning before the team’s game with the Chicago Bulls, who had two games suspended after an outbreak of their own.
Assistant coach David Fizdale will be the team’s acting head coach.
Lakers center Anthony Davis will sit out at least a month after suffering a left MCL sprain during a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
The Lakers have placed eight players in the NBA’s protocols this week alone, with Russell Westbrook quickly exiting them after a series of negative tests.
They’ll play the Bulls without Talen Horton-Tucker, Dwight Howard, Avery Bradley, Malik Monk, Austin Reaves and Bazemore. Kendrick Nunn, who is out with a knee injury, cleared protocols Sunday.
The Lakers also won’t have star big man Anthony Davis, who underwent testing Saturday that revealed an MCL sprain in his left knee. He’ll be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks.
“It’s just craziness. There’s chaos involved,” Vogel said Friday night in Minnesota. “Like every few hours, you’re hearing a new guy is out or in [Westbrook’s] case a new guy is in that you thought was out. It’s just a crazy time.”
The surge of the Omicron variant has pushed the world back into a state of uncertainty and is compromising the quality of competition in every sport.
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