Tomas Satoransky
USATSI

Before the Chicago Bulls took on the Dallas Mavericks Sunday night, Billy Donovan announced that guard Tomas Satoransky along with a member of the team's support staff tested positive for COVID-19, which made the guard ineligible for the game. Satoransky has already been quarantining after forward Chandler Hutchinson tested positive for the virus before Chicago's game last Thursday against the Wizards, and hasn't played since. 

Satoransky is just the latest Bulls member to be under quarantine after Lauri Markannen and Ryan Arcidiacono were both required to miss games due to close contact with Hutchinson. After Hutchinson tested positive, he remained in Washington while the Bulls traveled back to Chicago, but Satoransky, Markannen and Arcidiacono reportedly all traveled back on the same van after the win over the Wizards, which is likely the source of the initial spread, per NBC Sports Chicago's K.C. Johnson.

With the Bulls heading out on a four-game road trip to the West Coast, they'll be shorthanded without several players, as Hutchinson and Satoransky will be required to quarantine for a minimum of 10 days if they're asymptomatic. 

Since the start of preseason, the Bulls have had several players and members of the coaching staff test positive for the virus, or undergo quarantine due to close contact with someone who has tested positive. Luke Kornet, Devon Dotson and Satoransky had to quarantine during the preseason after former forward Noah Vonleh tested positive for the virus, and guard Garrett Temple also tested positive for the virus the day before training camp started, citing a Thanksgiving gathering with his family as the likely source. 

Despite the number of cases on the team and required quarantining of multiple players, though, Donovan doesn't think the players have been shirking the protocols set by the league.

"I think our guys have been really pretty compliant," Donovan said to reporters ahead of Sunday's game, via ESPN. "If there has been anything they've been able to do on these road trips, it's all been league-approved as it relates to restaurants or going somewhere. I think our guys have been really, really compliant with that stuff. The thing that I can not speak to, we just finished up the holiday season. I think for our guys, all of them have been very, very conscientious but a lot of times, it could be coming from family, it could be coming from outside, people getting together. Some of these guys have kids. Some of these kids ... maybe some schools are open, some schools are closed. It's just a lot of different ways, but I don't think [our] guys are being irresponsible in terms of going out and putting themselves in harm's way."

Whatever the cause of the positive tests, the Bulls are just another cautionary tale for the league as it continues on with the current season amidst a global pandemic. The Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers have also had mini COVID-19 outbreaks within their organizations, with the Rockets having a game postponed due to not having the required eight players needed to play an NBA game. Although the league is taking the necessary precautions to play safely, it can't completely shut out the virus without the presence of a bubble.