Temple in quarantine
Bulls guard believes he contracted COVID-19 during Thanksgiving
Chicago Bulls guard Garrett Temple is quarantining in his hotel room in Chicago after testing positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 28.
Through contact tracing, Temple — a free-agent acquisition by the Bulls last month — said he believes he contracted the virus while i n Louisi a na duri ng Thanksgiving.
He does not usually get headaches, so once he started feeling one in the days after, he figured something might be up.
After testing positive and first beginning to quarantine, the 34year-old also felt fatigued, had a congested nose, a cough and shortness of breath that he compared to feeling like he ran outside during a cold Chicago day. But as he spoke to reporters during a video call from his hotel room Sunday morning, he said he felt much better and his symptoms were behind him.
He was hopeful to rejoin the Bulls for practice by midweek, but he first must record two negative results, per NBA protocols.
It underscores the difficulty and magnitude of what the NBA is trying to do for the 2020-21 season. After the success of the bubble outside Orlando, Fla., the league is trying to pull off a much more complicated task this season — traveling and playing games around the country, including with fans in a few arenas, while the U.S. continues to set records almost daily for new COVID-19 cases.
“It’s going to be a challenging year with travel and practice and games,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “It’s going to be really hard. There’s no bubble. The Orlando situation was really a confined, restricted venue where I think everybody felt like, ‘OK, we’re really in a good spot here. The virus is not inside this bubble.’ But right now, we’re back in the real world and you don’t know what can potentially happen.”
And reality set in quickly for the NBA during the first week of training camps. After completing the 2019-20 season and postseason in the bubble without any coaches or players testing positive, the NBA announced this week that 48 of 546 players (about 8.8%) tested positive. The Portland Trailblazers announced Sunday that they are closing their practice facility after three positive tests in the organization in the last four days.
“It’s difficult, man. The onus is going to be on the players,” Temple said. “We have to be smart about who we’re around (and) about wearing a face mask wherever. I feel like if I had a face mask on during the time with my family, I definitely would have mitigated the risk of getting it.
“We’ve got to be aware of our surroundings, making sure we adhere to the guidelines. When we go on the road, guys shouldn’t be going out to lounges or bars, try to order food in, order some room service, just staying away from people. And if you do have to be around people, make sure you wear a mask.”
The Bulls did not have any other positive tests, so the rest of the team was able to begin group workouts Sunday, Donovan said.
It will put Temple a bit behind
his teammates, especially as he makes the transition to a new team. But in addition to constant contact with the medical staff, he has been in touch with Donovan and a few players, including Zach LaVine, Otto Porter Jr. and Thaddeus Young, so he can start
watching film and studying the playbook.
“The good thing about being a vet in this league, you understand a lot of stuff,” Temple said. “Going through plays that we’re going to be running, watching them on film, it’s everything I’ve seen