NEWSLETTER
Another Chicago Bulls player has suffered a season-ending injury.
The team announced on Tuesday that Onuralp Bitim has suffered a detached retina in his right eye and is now out for the remainder of the postseason. He now joins Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams, and Lonzo Ball as the fourth Bulls officially out for the year.
Chicago has also been without Julian Phillips for an extended period of time due to a foot injury, while both Andre Drummond and Ayo Dosunmu are questionable for Wednesday night’s Play-In Tournament with differing injuries.
Bitim started his first-ever season in the NBA on a two-way deal with the Chicago Bulls this season. The team then decided to promote him to a full-time roster spot in late February. The decision came as a surprise to many, but Bitim made the most out of the opportunity over the next few weeks. He would become a rotational mainstay thanks to some high-energy defense and some solid 3-point shooting.
As the year went on, however, Bitim struggled to make the same kind of positive impact. His minutes started to decrease drastically at the end of March, as both Dalen Terry and the re-signed Javonte Green started to make an impression. With that being the case, the expectation was that Bitim would start the postseason on the outside looking in.
Still, the Bulls are already an extremely banged-up group. Bitim at least had 23 games of experience in this rotation and could’ve been a change-of-pace option for head coach Billy Donovan to turn to. Unfortunately, that option is now entirely off the table and the Bulls find themselves even more shorthanded.
What a frustrating way for Bitim’s first year in the NBA to come to a close. Also, this sounds like a really awful injury. I’m no ophthalmologist but a quick Google search tells us that he’ll need surgery to get this taken care of. Wishing him a very speedy recovery.
