The final day of each NBA season is often met by the lengthiest injury reports of the year as teams rest their stars to settle in for the postseason.
The Bulls followed trend in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Minnesota Timberwolves, benching four starters for the 82nd game of the season — DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Nikola Vučević and Alex Caruso.
Some of those choices were expected. The Bulls mathematically can’t budge from the No. 6 seed, so playing a full-strength lineup with DeRozan and Vučević would only risk fatigue and injury for two keys to the Bulls’ postseason success.
But other names on the injury report serve as looming question marks for the Bulls in the playoffs — primarily Caruso and LaVine, whose health could determine just how far the Bulls can go.
LaVine’s knee became a point of concern when he missed the last two games before the All-Star break to seek treatment in Los Angeles for soreness and tightness. Nearly two months later, the Bulls don’t have any more answers about the guard’s health heading into the postseason.
To his credit, LaVine has maintained nearly identical offensive production — 24.4 points and 4.5 assists per game — before and after the All-Star break. But his shooting percentages have dropped as an uncharacteristic timidness has crept in in several games.
Meanwhile, Caruso is fighting through back spasms, sitting out a game last week and wearing a heat pack during breaks on the sidelines. The guard asked out of the third quarter of the Bulls’ loss to the Miami Heat after the pain moved up between his shoulder blades, resulting in a sharp pain whenever he collided with other players.
Even when Caruso isn’t visibly nursing the injury, coach Billy Donovan said it’s easy to tell the defensive specialist — who only stole the ball once in the last three games — is playing at a fraction of his typical intensity.
“He’s just not right,” Donovan said.
For his part, DeRozan isn’t a fan of rest games — and he hasn’t needed them this season. The veteran understands the need to care for his body, joking after a midseason game that all he does after games is ”go home and sit down” now that he’s in his 30s. But DeRozan isn’t prone to taking breaks unless he feels his body is in distress.
“I don’t need no time off,” he said after Tuesday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. “I hate sitting too long. I love playing. … I’m kinda weird when it comes to that. You’re not supposed to feel too good. I hate feeling too good. Some of my best games came when I felt like I got jumped by 10 media people.”
DeRozan took a game off last week after feeling discomfort in his groin — which he will always treat carefully following a torn adductor injury in 2014. He will finish the season having only missed six games for the Bulls, four of which came during the leaguewide COVID-19 outbreak in December.
DeRozan’s ability to dodge injuries this season serves as a sole bright light for the Bulls in a season where hopes were routinely dashed by the injury report.
The Bulls waited until this week to shut down Lonzo Ball for the season following a January surgery for a torn meniscus, ending a monthslong streak of hope that the guard could return for a last-minute boost to the roster. Ball’s injury was a core part of the revolving door of starting guards for the Bulls, who swapped four different players into the starting point guard role the last two months.
With Caruso’s and LaVine’s injuries ongoing, the Bulls might have to continue this trend of adaptable lineups in the postseason.
“We’ve dealt with all this for so long,” Donovan said. “You try to have a level of optimism … but this is just how it’s been for us this year.”
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