Zach LaVine leads the Chicago Bulls to a 109-97 win over the Denver Nuggets with DeMar DeRozan in COVID-19 protocol — the 3rd Bulls player in the last week

Most nights, Zach LaVine doesn’t need to be the hero anymore for the Chicago Bulls.

That was always the goal of this season’s roster reorganization. The team picked up shotmakers such as DeMar DeRozan and defenders such as Alex Caruso to take the pressure off LaVine, giving him more room to run and relax on the court as the Bulls built a balanced dynamic.

But with four teammates sidelined Monday night — including DeRozan and Caruso — LaVine reminded fans how he can put the Bulls on his back with a 32-point, eight-assist performance to lead the beleaguered team to a 109-97 win over the Denver Nuggets at the United Center.

The Bulls were thrown into flux when DeRozan entered the league’s COVID-19 testing protocol hours before tipoff. The team is now facing a potential outbreak after Coby White and Javonte Green tested positive last week.

With DeRozan out of the lineup, LaVine created offense from behind the 3-point arc and slashing to the rim. After a stilted start left the Bulls trailing by six, LaVine led a charge to finish the first half on a 10-2 run, then opened the second half with seven unanswered points. LaVine’s third quarter shifted the momentum fully behind the Bulls as he dropped a pair of 3-pointers and drove for three layups.

“You’re not going to replace what (DeRozan) does, especially at the level of play that he’s playing right now,” LaVine said. “But guys will step up and we can compete for each other and still be a really good team. I think we showed that tonight.”

Unlike in past seasons, LaVine wasn’t forced to do it all on his own. Lonzo Ball and Nikola Vučević finished with 20 points apiece. Vučević matched up with reigning MVP Nikola Jokić in their first meeting of the season. Although the Nuggets center finished with a triple-double (17 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds), his performance was controlled by Vučević's presence in the paint.

Rookie Ayo Dosunmu matched the veteran energy in the first start of his NBA career, tossing up a pair of lobs to LaVine and Ball for dunks and finishing with 11 points and eight assists.

Bench players who don’t see consistent minutes also stepped up to provide production on both ends. Derrick Jones Jr. scored 12 points — including a pair of vicious dunks in the second half — and grabbed nine rebounds. Troy Brown Jr. had six points and eight rebounds, and Tony Bradley added three and six.

“A lot of these guys have done a terrific job keeping themselves ready,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I give Matt Thomas an enormous amount of credit. That guy works like you can’t believe. Same thing with Troy Brown. And tonight their number was called and they were professional and they stepped up and they played and contributed and did a really, really good job.

“So it’s a lot of respect for those guys in terms of how they approach their job each and every day.”

Despite the win, the upcoming weeks appear uncertain for the Bulls with COVID-19 concerns throughout the team.

DeRozan returned one positive test Monday, but the Bulls have not received enough additional results to firmly diagnose him as a positive case. Donovan said DeRozan participated fully in the morning shootaround with his teammates before he was pulled into isolation in the afternoon.

Donovan said it could take one to two days to confirm DeRozan’s status.

The Bulls have not determined if DeRozan can travel with the team to road games in Cleveland and Miami this week. DeRozan’s positive result came on the same day he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 30.3 points in three Bulls victories.

White tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, and Green tested positive Friday in New York, then drove home to Chicago to enter quarantine. Four Charlotte Hornets players — including LaMelo Ball, Lonzo’s brother — also tested positive after last Monday’s game against the Bulls at the United Center.

All three Bulls players must return two negative PCR tests within a 24-hour window to return to team activities.

The Bulls reinstated daily testing after White’s positive test. Donovan said players are being tested multiple times a day, and the coach got a test shortly before reporting to the United Center for Monday’s game.

Vučević tested positive in early November and spent 11 days in isolation before returning to team activities.

Longtime Bulls TV analyst Stacey King also entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol before Monday’s game. King said on Twitter he was “resting at home comfortably” and hoped to return to the sidelines shortly.

The entire Bulls roster received both shots of the COVID-19 vaccine. Although it doesn’t prevent individuals from contracting the virus, the vaccine limits most of the symptoms and severity of the disease. Vučević and White both reported mild symptoms similar to a cold, and Vučević has played his best basketball of the season in the weeks since returning from isolation.

“It’s pretty clear just from a national standpoint — forget the NBA — that people that are vaccinated are getting COVID,” Donovan said. “I don’t think anybody was under the premise that just because you’re going to be vaccinated that you’d have no chance of getting COVID. That’s been proven pretty much to be the case that you still have the possibility.

“The hope is by being vaccinated that maybe the symptoms aren’t as severe. ... So it’s just what we’re all going through.”

Donovan said he expects the NBA to increase its COVID-19 requirements after an uptick in positive tests around the league.

However, he doesn’t expect the league to suspend the season, although he said specific games could be postponed if too many players were sidelined to field a team.

“Our guys have done a good job following and doing what we’re asked to be done from the league and from the medical side,” Donovan said. “This time of year, there’s certainly been a spike in this, but I have not heard anything as it relates to them going into a situation of shutting down the league for a period of time.”

The Bulls played Monday without four key players: DeRozan, White, Green and Caruso, who is sidelined for at least a week with a strained right hamstring.

Caruso attempted to play through the injury for the first eight minutes Saturday against the Brooklyn Nets before team doctors pulled him. Donovan said the guard received an MRI and treatment and will be re-evaluated in a week.

In the meantime, the Bulls will lean heavily on LaVine, Vučević and Ball as they face an uncertain future with four sidelined players.

“We’ve had to deal with this for a good portion of the year, whether it’s been COVID or injuries,” Donovan said. “The guys that maybe had not been in the rotation have done a good job keeping up, so we’ll have to figure that out. We’re going to have different combinations and it’s players playing with each other that haven’t played with each other before.

“The way I look at it is this is the hand we’re dealt.”