“I don’t think it’s significant. But we’ll see how he progresses and how he feels,” head coach Billy Donovan said following the news of DeRozan’s injury. “He knows his body well. He’s always very conscientious about taking care of it. We hope with treatment and how diligent he is, he’ll progress. But there’s enough discomfort there for him where he’s having a hard time moving and cutting and jumping.”
Following Monday night’s loss to the Orlando Magic, DeRozan revealed that he had been dealing with discomfort for close to a month and a half.
The Bulls and Donovan have not ruled DeRozan out for Thursday’s home game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the second night of a back-to-back, even though the All-Star did not travel with the team to play the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
DeRozan, who has stated that he will be at All-Star Weekend in Utah this upcoming weekend, may ultimately be able to play through this injury, but the fact that he is not 100 percent is definitely troublesome for the Bulls as they enter the final stretch of the season.
Chicago has not been healthy all season long and now with their top scorer banged up, their chances of making the playoffs are looking very thin.
The Bulls currently sit 0.5 games behind the Washington Wizards for the 10-seed in the East entering Tuesday night and even if they were to get themselves into the Play-In Tournament, they would most likely have to win two games to claim the 8-seed in the postseason.
This season has been torture for Bulls fans given all the inconsistency surrounding the organization and after not making a move at the trade deadline, Chicago will have quite a few question to answer surrounding their core group heading into the offseason.
