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The Chicago Bulls announced that DeMar DeRozan will miss Thursday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans because of a left adductor strain.
The Bulls missed the playoffs for a fourth straight season in 2020-21, and the 32-year-old arrived in part to ensure that doesn’t happen again this year.
In addition to DeRozan, Chicago added Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso this past offseason, after having already sent Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and two first-round picks to the Orlando Magic for Nikola Vucevic in March.
DeRozan was coming off another solid campaign for the San Antonio Spurs in which he averaged 21.6 points and 6.9 assists while shooting 49.5 percent from the floor. His limitations have been laid bare in the postseason, but there’s no question the value he can provide on a nightly basis.
Perhaps motivated the change the general perception about his game, DeRozan is averaging 27.6 points per game as the Bulls have battled to claim the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Bleacher Report @BleacherReport
“Am I the MVP? Yeah, I came into this season thinking I was the MVP.”⁰⁰<a href=”https://twitter.com/DeMar_DeRozan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@DeMar_DeRozan</a> talks having an MVP mentality this season with <a href=”https://twitter.com/TaylorRooks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@TaylorRooks</a> ➡️ <a href=”https://t.co/jNJVwk6JaW”>https://t.co/jNJVwk6JaW</a> <a href=”https://t.co/crVJbrKuve”>pic.twitter.com/crVJbrKuve</a>
The impact of the four-time All-Star’s injury is magnified because the Bulls have already lost multiple key players.
Chicago watched Ball (torn meniscus) and Caruso (broken wrist) suffer injuries that sidelined them for weeks. As well as Donovan has done to help the team exceed expectations, losing DeRozan, too, could cause the Bulls to lose valuable ground when they already trail the first-place Miami Heat by 4.5 games..
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