Forget trades, LaVine to have season-ending surgery
Any questions about Zach LaVine's future with the Bulls were erased Saturday, at least when it applies to his short-term destination.
The Bulls announced LaVine would have season-ending surgery on his right foot sometime in the next week or so, with the expectations of being sidelined 4-6 months. The exact nature of the injury has not been released.
The Bulls lost a crazy game to Sacramento 123-115 on Saturday at the United Center. The Kings used fast-breaks and 3-pointers to build a 30-point advantage early in the third quarter.
The Bulls put together a furious comeback, but got no closer than 3 points at the end. Coby White led with 26 points, while DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic had 24 each. De’Aaron Fox poured in 41 for the Kings.
LaVine had already missed roughly half the season, so it was essentially business as usual when the Bulls hosted the Sacramento Kings on Saturday at the United Center.
Chances of LaVine being moved to a new team by Thursday's NBA trade deadline have officially moved from slim to none. There's also very little chance of the Bulls being able to trade LaVine over the summer. So the next official move with the Bulls is for LaVine and Lonzo Ball to show up to training camp in the fall, hopefully healthy and ready to go. Those two are set to make a combined $64 million next season.
“I really feel like he did everything he could to try to get himself back to playing,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of LaVine. “I think the discomfort in his foot was at a place here I think he just didn't think he had any chance of being himself and contributing. I think that was really frustrating and hard for him.”
Donovan said he spoke to LaVine at Saturday's shootaround. The Bulls' news release stated it was LaVine and Klutch Sports Group that elected to have foot surgery, in consultation with the Bulls training and medical staff.
That might make it sound like the two sides weren't in complete agreement, but that's a minor detail. LaVine didn't invent this injury. He missed all of December with right foot soreness, came back to play in seven games, then stepped on a Toronto Raptors' foot in a Jan. 18 game and was sidelined by a sprained right ankle.
According to Donovan, the ankle healed, but the foot remained a problem. The coach said LaVine saw a specialist when the team was in Los Angeles on Jan. 25 and consulted with other doctors by phone.
“The hope was he was going to come back at some point,” Donovan said. “But I think when there wasn't a lot of response to the treatment, it was OK, 'Let's give it another week.' But now it's pretty clear there may be something.
“I think everybody's been in lock step in terms of making sure it wasn't necessarily an organizational decision. It was like, 'Listen this is still a problem. We need to start talking to other people as well to try to get different opinions.'”
Really, the worst part of this news from the Bulls' perspective is they won't be able to trade LaVine for at least several months. But that was already a remote possibility because of the $130 million left on his contract over the next three seasons. The Bulls will struggle to make any trade for LaVine, let alone one that brings back any useful assets.
A report of LaVine and the Bulls being open to a trade appeared on Nov. 15, and from then until he was first sidelined by the foot injury, the Bulls looked miserable on the court, with bad body language and poor effort.
The quality of play changed immediately once LaVine was sidelined. Overall this season, the Bulls are 10-15 when LaVine plays and 13-11 when he doesn't.
“It stinks for him because he just dealt with something not too long ago,” Alex Caruso said before Saturday's game. “As far as the group that's still able-bodied and still playing, I don't think (it's a black cloud), just because no one's going to come save us. We've just got to go out there and play games and work.
“Dark cloud's probably a bad title for it, but maybe from a fan's perspective it's sad to see.”
Depth was starting to become an issue, since Patrick Williams will be out with a foot injury at least until the all-star break. Torrey Craig returned from a foot issue Saturday, playing for the first time since Dec. 16, and finished with 5 points in 14 minutes. Donovan is hopeful Dalen Terry will be ready to play Tuesday after a right ankle sprain.
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