Latest DeMar DeRozan News Sends Bulls’ Season From Bad To Worse
If Chicago plans to climb the Eastern Conference rankings in the remaining 25 games, they’ll have to start scoring without All-Star DeMar DeRozan. He is expected to at least miss Wednesday night’s fight against the Indiana Pacers and is also likely to miss Thursday night’s fight against the Milwaukee Bucks before the All-Star break, for which DeRozan was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star list for the sixth time in his career. After walking out of yesterday’s game against the Orlando Magic midway through the fourth quarter, DeRozan underwent a test today that thankfully came back better than first signs showed.
Everyone knew something was up
DeRozan said after the game that this injury has been going on for over a month and that last night’s pain reached unbearable levels and pulled out of the game in the fourth quarter. Watching him play over the past few weeks, it was obvious something was troubling All-NBA talent. In every other month of the season, DeRozan averaged over 26 points, shot nearly or over 50% from the field, and averaged over 6.7 free throw attempts per game. This month, those are down to 18 points, 46% from the field, and fewer than five free throw attempts per competition.
Dodged a bullet
DeRozan has been the only consistent force for Chicago this season; While Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine have had sporadic stellar stretches throughout the year, the lone All-Star for the Bulls in 2023 has held the ship down more consistently than either of his two former All-Star teammates. The former Raptor and Spur, who leads the team in points, assists and minutes per game, has been one of the most indispensable players since arriving in the Windy City.
The fight with a right quadriceps strain in early January that saw DeRozan miss three games is shaping up to be a very similar injury, both in terms of magnitude and the timeline for his return. Luckily, Chicago made the trip to Paris, France for the first time and gave him more rest time than an average regular season week would have. The all-star break is the perfect opportunity to rest and recuperate this time. Grade 1 strains typically take between 2 and 4 weeks to heal. Assuming he misses the next two competitions in the next two days, the Bulls would not play for eight days, a very realistic target for his return to action.
Oh boy, here we go again
Last night’s loss to the Magic extended the Bulls’ losing streak to four games, a mark they have now reached three times this season. How many times have you won four or more times in a row? Zero. You’re shooting 20-to-102 from three-point range, or 19%, during this four-game sled. The distance between Chicago’s three-point shooting mark and 29th place shooting team is equal to the distance between 29th place and 2nd place in the league! Their 20 three-pointers in four games is similarly ridiculous considering the Boston Celtics had 21 three-pointers in their last game alone.
Completely eliminated from the playoffs, Chicago has a Pacers team that beat them in the last matchup without their best player and a Bucks team that is going on a 10-game winning streak next. It’s safe to say that without DeRozan, they’ll almost certainly be looking at the All-Star break from the outside.
Can the Bulls regroup, recover in the off-time and come back with a healthy DeRozan ready to make a play-in tournament push, or throw in the towel altogether? Regardless, expect significant changes this summer, barring a historic comeback story in the final months of the 2022-23′ campaign.