{"id":616954,"date":"2026-02-22T03:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T03:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/616954\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T03:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T03:18:20","slug":"chicago-bulls-guards-injury-concerns-add-to-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/616954\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Bulls guard’s injury concerns add to issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA trade deadline<\/a> passed more than two weeks ago, yet the Chicago Bulls are still adding to the confounding saga of their flurry of deals.<\/p>\n

Injuries once again sit at the heart of the issue. Guard Jaden Ivey will be sidelined for at least two weeks with a left knee injury. He will miss at least seven games and could stay home for the entirety of a five-game trip from March 5-13.<\/p>\n

This is a major loss for a team already dealing with injuries. But more importantly for the Bulls \u2014 who are de-emphasizing winning to chase a higher draft pick \u2014 Ivey\u2019s absence throws into question one of their most important acquisitions from the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Column: Chicago Bulls were late to the tanking trend. That\u2019s nothing new for this front office.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Bulls did not provide a clear timeline for the development of Ivey\u2019s injury. He was not listed on the injury report for Thursday\u2019s game. Acting coach Wes Unseld Jr. said that he made a \u201cbasketball decision\u201d to not play Ivey against the Toronto Raptors that night. The first mention of any injury concern came from Ivey after that game, when he alluded to knee soreness as part of the reasoning for his absence.<\/p>\n

Ivey, acquired Feb. 3<\/a> from the Detroit Pistons in a three-team trade, missed practice Friday to undergo further medical testing, then landed on the injury report for the first time with \u201cpain syndrome\u201d in his left patellofemoral. Then, the team made the announcement Saturday morning \u2014 hours before tipoff against the Pistons at the United Center \u2014 that he would be sidelined for at least two weeks.<\/p>\n

Ivey did little to clear matters up. The guard leans heavily on religious references during his media availabilities, which muddies his answers to direct questions regarding his physical condition and outlook on his future in Chicago.<\/p>\n

When asked about his injury after not playing in Thursday\u2019s loss to the Raptors<\/a>, Ivey alluded to the idea that fans believe he is \u201cnot the same player as I used to be\u201d before launching into a lengthy explanation in which he stated \u201cthe old JI is dead\u201d and \u201cborn again\u201d in his religion, emphasizing that he prioritizes his faith over his basketball accolades. Ivey\u2019s insistence on overlapping the two topics prevented him from concisely communicating whether he believes he can play effectively for the Bulls this season \u2014 or at any time in the future.<\/p>\n

This was always a gamble. Ivey shattered the fibula in his left leg on New Year\u2019s Day in 2025, a gruesome injury that required multiple surgeries and months of rehabilitation. Barely a year later, Ivey still hasn\u2019t returned to his former level of play. He lacks explosivity, especially when starting and stopping. Coach Billy Donovan noticed the difference the moment the guard arrived in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s played at the level that he\u2019s capable of playing at or has played at,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cIn my opinion, he\u2019s not moving like he once did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ivey\u2019s diagnosis by the medical team roughly translates to runner\u2019s knee, a common issue for players recovering from reconstructive surgery in their lower legs. Donovan said the medical team identified significant weakness in the stabilizing muscles surrounding Ivey\u2019s knee, which appears to be the leading cause of this soreness.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoBulls guard Jaden Ivey (31) looks for an open teammate against the Nuggets on Feb. 7, 2026, at the United Center. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

This makes sense for a player who returned from a broken fibula barely 11 months after the injury occurred. It\u2019s likely that Ivey simply didn\u2019t have enough time to rebuild his leg fully from the trauma of the broken leg and the lack of use during his recovery. He will spend the next two weeks rebuilding strength in the leg, at which point the medical team will assess his readiness to return to play.<\/p>\n

Ivey might not regain full strength or confidence in his left leg until next season, but Donovan and the Bulls feel confident that he can return to his former self.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a feeling that if he can get some more strength back then he can get back to where he was athletically,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cHe knows that he\u2019s not as explosive as he once was, but I don\u2019t think that means that he can\u2019t get back to that point. A big part of that is going to be him getting stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with Donovan\u2019s belief, however, Ivey\u2019s injury raises a serious question: Why did the Bulls invest in the guard if his athleticism was still this big of a concern?<\/p>\n

Many of the trades the Bulls made at the deadline were focused on moving players to accumulate second-round picks while positioning the roster for a tank job. But Ivey was one of the few players the Bulls hoped to invest in, a 24-year-old with high upside who fit in the general timeline of their unofficial rebuild. By grabbing Ivey at the deadline, the Bulls positioned themselves to retain the guard in restricted free agency this summer. Now, that tactic seems questionable.<\/p>\n

NBA trade grades: Did the Chicago Bulls get enough for Coby White? And what\u2019s with all the 2nd-round picks?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ivey\u2019s situation is strange. The guard was cleared to play by medical teams in Detroit and Chicago. A month ago, he was logging nearly 20 minutes per game for the best team in the Eastern Conference. Now, he needs to be shut down for a lingering problem.<\/p>\n

There is a chance Ivey simply wasn\u2019t ready for starting minutes. He joked about his extensive playing time in his Bulls debut in Toronto<\/a>, where he played 33 minutes due to a lack of available players. If all Ivey needs is some extra help in his strength and conditioning, the Bulls won\u2019t mind shutting down a valued player and regrouping with the guard next season.<\/p>\n

But even if the Bulls weren\u2019t trying to make a playoff push, Ivey\u2019s lack of availability should have affected his trade value. The Bulls, for instance, lost a second-round pick<\/a> in their deal with the Charlotte Hornets<\/a> due to the severity of Coby White\u2019s lingering calf injuries. The Bulls are always on the giving end of those amendments. Now, they are saddled with a player whose body still has plenty to prove.<\/p>\n

The uncertainty of it all stings. The Bulls don\u2019t know much about their future. They have to wait to see where they will pick in the draft and whom they will recruit in free agency and whether their young players will be any closer to making an impact next season.<\/p>\n

The last thing this front office needs is another question \u2014 but it has acquired a looming one with Ivey.<\/p>\n

Collins\u2019 season over<\/p>\n

The Bulls also shut down center Zach Collins for the season to undergo surgery for a sprained big toe.<\/p>\n

Collins played only 10 games for the Bulls after fracturing his wrist in a preseason game, then suffering the sprained toe when he stepped on a teammate\u2019s foot two weeks into his return. He averaged 9.7 points and 5.6 rebounds in that short span.<\/p>\n

A trade-deadline acquisition in 2025<\/a>, Collins has struggled to stay on the court throughout his career. He is an unrestricted free agent this summer who is unlikely to fit into the Bulls\u2019 long-term plans for constructing a roster around young talent. But Donovan praised the center for his physicality and mindset, sharing an anecdote about Collins apologizing to the coach for not being available after the medical team made its decision Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it would all work out for him to be back here next year because I got a lot of respect for him as a teammate (and) a worker,\u201d Donovan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA trade deadline passed more than two weeks ago, yet the Chicago Bulls are still adding to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,3363,920,919,329,3824,963,1018,6,2828,10682],"class_list":{"0":"post-616954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-billy-donovan","10":"tag-bulls","11":"tag-chicago","12":"tag-chicago-bulls","13":"tag-chicagobulls","14":"tag-coby-white","15":"tag-jaden-ivey","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nba-trade-deadline","18":"tag-wes-unseld-jr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116112124916526535","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}