For a few minutes in the second half of Tuesday’s 116-108 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Chicago Bulls seemed to be facing a worst-case scenario.
It began when Josh Giddey came up limping after rolling his ankle with barely a minute left in the third quarter. He tried his best to play through the pain — attempting a 3-pointer after hobbling out to the perimeter — but quickly accepted a sub from Matas Buzelis.
Giddey barely had time to make it to the locker room before his replacement suffered the same fate.
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Buzelis rolled his ankle while stepping on a Thunder player’s shoe under the basket, immediately coming up with a limp. He managed to square up for a few seconds of defense before the Bulls were whistled for a foul, giving him an opportunity to awkwardly hustle his way to the locker room.
By the time Buzelis rolled his ankle, the Bulls were trailing the reigning NBA champions by 16 points. Giddey returned for a 5-minute, 28-second stint in the fourth quarter before he exceeded the ceiling of his 30-minute playing-time restriction for a lingering hamstring strain, forcing coach Billy Donovan to pull the plug for good.
But Buzelis never returned to the court, giving the Bulls another looming injury concern as they prepare for a five-game West Coast trip.
After the game, Buzelis said he was hopeful to return for Thursday’s game in Phoenix. The second-year forward has been notably hardy in his Bulls tenure, playing every game this season. Buzelis said the Bulls hadn’t set a recovery plan in the initial hour after the injury but said the pain wasn’t “really bad.”
“You guys know I don’t like missing games, so I think I’ll be ready,” he said. “I want to play every game, so we’ll see how it feels and we’ll go from there.”
The Bulls already are playing without five key players — Zach Collins (season-ending toe surgery), Jalen Smith (right calf strain), Patrick Williams (right quadriceps strain), Jaden Ivey (left knee soreness) and Anfernee Simons (left wrist fracture) — as they navigate the final stretch of the season.
But Buzelis’ availability is the key to this period, which is designed to give him more reps to supplement his growth as a future centerpiece of the roster.
The Thunder had their own injury issues, playing without reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal strain) and Jalen Williams (hamstring strain).
Despite shooting less than 24% from 3-point range, Oklahoma City held off the Bulls with relative ease thanks to balanced scoring from rotation players such as Jared McCain (20 points) and Isaiah Joe (19 points).
Collin Sexton led the Bulls with 20 points off the bench, while fellow trade-deadline additions Guerschon Yabusele (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Nick Richards (12 and 13) posted double-doubles.