CHICAGO – While the team is enjoying success early in the 2022 calendar year, injuries have begun to pile up a little bit for the Bulls, with another player exiting the lineup for at least a couple of weeks.
This time it’s forward Derrick Jones Jr., who will be out of the lineup 2-4 weeks with a bone bruise on his knee. The team and fans may actually view this as a relief since it appeared to be more serious when it happened early in the Bulls’ loss to the Nets Wednesday at the United Center, but an MRI showed no structural damage.
That keep Jones’ potential absence to a month at the most instead of it being an injury that lingered into the spring. In his sixth year in the NBA and his first in Chicago, the forward has mostly been a contributor off the bench in the 31 games he’s played, bringing steady play on the second unit.
In an average of 17.2 minutes per contest, Jones was getting 6.3 points and 3.4 rebounds per game before the injury. The forward also has spot starts in eight games this season.
Jones’ injury adds to the growing list of Bulls’ players who’ve been sidelined to start 2022. Javonte Green was knocked out 2-to-4 weeks with a groin injury just after the new year while Alex Caruso has been out since late December with a foot injury. The guard was also placed in the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocol while recovering from that ailment.
Forward Tyler Cook, who started seeing playing time for the Bulls in late December, has also been knocked out of the lineup with a spring ankle.
Of course, starting forward Patrick Williams has been out since October with a wrist injury that threatens to keep him out for the rest of the regular season.