The COVID-19 surge continues to force the sports world to adapt on a daily basis, and few franchises have been as affected as the Chicago Bulls.

A recent outbreak that began Dec. 1 with Coby White testing positive eventually sent 10 players to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, led to the postponement of two games and interrupted the team’s best start since their 50-win season in 2014-15.

Even with several players returning this week, including leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, coach Billy Donovan has had to mix and match lineups to keep starters relatively fresh while also finding out what he has from a handful of reserves who’ve seen little or no playing time until now.

Meanwhile, Bulls broadcasters Stacey King and Bill Wennington also have been sidelined after testing positive, leading to temporary changes in the TV and radio teams. And about 20,000 fans a night have risked contracting COVID-19 during the latest surge, opting to watch the games in an indoor environment where the majority of the crowd removes their masks during games.

The Bulls play one more game at the United Center — Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors — before taking a three-day Christmas break. They expect to get Zach LaVine and four others back next week, which should make things somewhat normal again.

But nothing can really be assumed at this point of the surge, so like everyone else the Bulls have to take things one day at a time.

Heading into the holiday break, here’s how the COVID-19 surge has affected the lives of five players and staff.

The coach

Donovan began his Bulls tenure Dec. 23, 2020, with a 124-104 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in a fan-free United Center. It was a harbinger. After the Bulls finished 31-41 and 11th in the Eastern Conference, the rebuild was junked in the offseason by Bulls architect Arturas Karnišovas, who gave Donovan a team that could compete.

With a revamped roster and a return to 100% capacity at home games, Donovan’s 2021-22 team has the second-best record in the East at 19-10 entering Tuesday’s games.

The December outbreak led to the loss of key starters such as DeRozan and LaVine and practice time while forcing Donovan to give precious minutes to little-used subs just to get through the month.

Has this been Donovan’s most difficult season as an NBA coach?

“It’s challenging, it is,” he said Monday. “Last year was a little bit different because of a condensed schedule, a shortened training camp, trying to get Patrick (Williams) up to speed, not having a Summer League for him. There was a lot of things, and the number of games we were playing, it was so hard to practice. We had some guys go in and out last year, whether it be through COVID or injuries.

“The one thing that’s challenging this year is any time you go into a situation thinking, ‘OK, we’ve moved past the way it has been for the past year and a half. There’s no more bubble in Orlando. No more shortened training camp, OK, we’re moving out of this.’ And then all of a sudden it hits again when your expectation is that it’s not going to be like that anymore. That’s the hard part.”

The superstar

As soon as DeRozan was cleared from the health and safety protocols Friday night, he headed to the Advocate Center to

practice at 1 a.m.

“Just trying to get my rhythm back as quick as possible, moving around, just trying to get in a rhythm of things as quick as I could,” he said.

DeRozan missed only three games thanks to the two postponements but was missed sorely in losses at Cleveland and Miami. Since his return, DeRozan has averaged 32 points in wins over the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets, shooting 52.4% and averaging 6 assists.

“I felt free as a bird,” he said after his fourth-quarter heroics downed the Lakers on Sunday. “Just getting out there, being with those guys, being in front of the fans, just getting out of the basement I was in for 10 days.”

For DeRozan, who was asymptomatic, fighting boredom was the biggest challenge of the downtime.

“Most of the guys in our league try to follow the necessary precautions we needed to take by getting vaccinated … take care of our health and just be out there and play,” he said. “For guys to be vaccinated and dealing with this, getting hit hard, it’s just frustrating. You try to do everything to avoid missing any games or contracting COVID, and it still comes around. That’s the frustrating thing.

“You don’t just see it in our league, but in sports, period, around the world, with everything going on. That’s the frustrating and confusing part.”

DeRozan on Wednesday will face the Raptors, one of his former teams. A four-time All-Star in Toronto, he could be voted to the Eastern Conference’s starting lineup this season, assuming fans outside Chicago are paying attention to what he has done.

The replacement

Chicagoan Alfonzo McKinnie, 29, finally realized a lifelong dream to play for the Bulls, signing a 10-day contract as a hardship exemption because of the COVID-19 outbreak. He played one game before the postponements.

After signing another 10-day contract Monday, McKinnie hit his first three 3-pointers and four overall while scoring 16 points in 29 minutes in the 133-118 win over the Rockets. He’s 6-for-12 from 3-point range in three games, looking like another nice find by Karnišovas.

“Man, these last couple of weeks have been crazy,” McKinnie said Monday. “Getting the call-up, fly to Miami, play, and then the next two games get postponed.”

McKinnie, a journeyman who briefly played for four other NBA teams as well as in the G-League and Mexico, grew up watching the Bulls in his West Side home only a few minutes from the United Center.

“I remember being in the house with my grandmother, and I used to rush to the TV to catch the intro for the Bulls game,” he said. “I always thought the Bulls had the dopest intro. Even now, standing out there on the court and hearing the intro, seeing the (cartoon) bull run through the other team’s bus and stuff like that is something I remember being excited to see as a kid.”

The rock

Lonzo Ball has sparked the Bulls offense all season with his playmaking and 3-point shooting while creating havoc on defense. He also has been the team’s rock — the only player from the opening-day starting lineup who hasn’t been sidelined by COVID-19.

Ball said he has been very careful in his off time and is “just thankful” he has been spared so far. He has been indispensable and capable of getting the crowd amped any time he’s in the lineup.

Ball’s full-court, inbounds pass that led to a DeRozan lay-in in the second quarter Monday was a highlight-reel play that made some wonder if the Bulls guard could be the heir apparent to Bears quarterback Justin Fields.

“Nah, Justin’s got it,” he said.

Ball came into the season knowing he had to learn the tendencies of his new teammates. But he couldn’t have envisioned having to play with so many lineups caused by disruptions from injuries (including to Williams and White) and COVID-19 setbacks. With Derrick Jones Jr. (hamstring) and Alex Caruso (foot sprain) going down in the last two games, Ball’s importance increases.

“Just all the different lineups, people are just coming in and playing hard,” he said. “For us, we have an identity we want to play to as a whole, and we address that whenever we can meet and go over film. Guys just come in with the mindset they want to work hard and play hard, (and) we go from there.”

The voice

Chuck Swirsky, the longtime voice of Bulls radio on WSCR-AM 670, has been without Wennington the last couple of weeks. Wennington’s replacement, former University of Illinois star Stephen Bardo, later was asked to fill in for King on the NBC Sports Chicago broadcasts, so former Purdue star Robbie Hummel partnered with Swirsky.

“Just adapt,” Swirsky said. “Stephen Bardo is terrific, Robbie is terrific. I’ve done solo three times this year. You just adjust in the moment.”

Wennington had mild symptoms, but King was hit much harder, sources said. Both of the popular analysts are recovering and expected back soon.

Regardless of personnel, so far the announcers are as excited as the fans by what they’ve seen in the early going.

“This is the most energized I’ve been about a Bulls team since (the days of) early Derrick Rose,” Swirsky said. “I love the chemistry, love the fact they’ve got a great coach, and they’ve brought in professional NBA players who know how to play.”