MINNEAPOLIS -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook tested out of the NBA's COVID-19 protocols and is available to play against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, the team announced.
Westbrook flew from Dallas to Minneapolis after the testing, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Westbrook was placed in the health and safety protocols following the Lakers' 107-104 overtime road win against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday. For a player to be cleared from the protocols, he must return two negative tests 24 hours apart.
"It's craziness," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said before the game when asked about his players going in and out of the protocols. "I don't know what the answer is but it's not like anything I've seen before or dealt with before as a coach, coming into games and guys just in and out of the lineups like this."
The Lakers also signed guard Isaiah Thomas to a 10-day contract on Friday. Thomas joins the roster under the hardship exemption, which allows a team to exceed the 15-player maximum. Los Angeles is without several players because of injuries and the NBA's health and safety protocols. Thomas will dress and be available against the Timberwolves.
"We'll see," Vogel said when asked if Thomas would play. "We're going to feel the game out. I will say if Russell didn't play, we definitely intended to split up Russell's minutes with [Rajon] Rondo and I.T. We'll feel the game out with Russ being back and obviously being a big-minutes player. We'll see how it goes."
Avery Bradley, Talen Horton-Tucker and Dwight Howard will miss Friday's game as they remain in the league's health and safety protocols. The Wolves will be without Anthony Edwards and Taurean Prince, who are also in the protocols, Minnesota announced.
Malik Monk was cleared to fly from Los Angeles to Minneapolis to join the team for Friday night's game. But ultimately he was not cleared to play, sources told ESPN.
"I mean, look, it's very detailed, nuanced and complex, the protocols," Vogel said. "And the league takes each case, literally case-by-case and they measure in all the factors of the testing and all the medical factors. And you can be cleared for one thing and not another. For instance, he was cleared to travel with us but was not cleared to be out of the protocols just yet. So, that didn't happen. We thought we were heading in that direction, but it didn't happen."
The Lakers announced that Kendrick Nunn, who has been out all season with a bone bruise in his knee, also has entered the health and safety protocols.
Rookie Austin Reaves, the hero of the team's overtime win in Dallas at the start of the current road trip, has entered the protocols, too, and will be out for the Wolves game, according to the team.
Reaves traveled to Minneapolis on the team charter Thursday but registered a positive test on Friday.
Vogel would not identify which players on his team were experiencing symptoms and which weren't, but spoke to the frustration his team has felt from the process.
"I think there's just a sentiment around the world - especially in sports - if the symptoms aren't that bad, why are we being held out? But obviously everybody understands why," Vogel said. "These are the best competitors in the world. They want to be in there. So if there's frustration, it's centered around wanting to be in there."
Vogel also said that some players on his team have yet to receive a booster shot for COVID-19.
L.A. already arranged for two-way players Chaundee Brown and Jay Huff to join the team on the road trip and announced Friday that Trevor Ariza, who has been out all season following ankle surgery in the preseason, has been upgraded to questionable for the Wolves game and will be in uniform. Ariza, however, would only go into the game if L.A. runs out of eligible players to finish the contest.
Thomas, 32, last played in the NBA during the 2020-21 season while on a 10-day contract with the New Orleans Pelicans. Thomas, who played for USA Basketball in November, dropped 42 points in his G League debut on Wednesday.
"You just got to roll with the punches," Vogel said. "We woke up thinking that Russell was most likely out. We knew there was a very small chance. And then Malik would be in. And then it ended up getting reversed where Malik is out and Russell is in. Then you wake up from your afternoon nap to find out that Austin is out. So, you just rip up your game plan in terms of your substitution pattern and whatnot and you redo it. I personally don't focus on things I can't control. And we're set with who we're going to have in the lineup tonight and good to go."