It’s gone somewhat under the radar in the Chicago sports landscape with the Bears being good, MLB hot stove rumors and the Joel Quenneville firing, but the Bulls have had some really bad injury luck in the early going of this season.
Lauri Markkanen’s elbow and the knees of Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis have garnered most of the attention. But Denzel Valentine, who was expected to be the team’s top reserve guard this season, sprained his ankle in training camp and has yet to see game action.
Today we found out that Valentine’s injury has taken a turn for the worse.
Denzel Valentine left ankle is not responding well, so they are putting the breaks on his return and calling it "indefinite,'' according to Paxson.
— Sun-Times Basketball (@suntimes_hoops) November 8, 2018
(Sad) #Bulls injury update: Denzel Valentine (ankle) is out indefinitely. Any optimism that he was weeks away, like Lauri, Portis and Dunn, has been dashed. For now.
— Teddy Greenstein (@TeddyGreenstein) November 8, 2018
This is some seriously surprising news considering the initial reports on Valentine were so minor. It’s clearly more than just a sprain.
Another reminder that Denzel Valentine's injury was initially diagnosed as a 1-2 week injury and now it's going to be … months? Yikes.
— Jason Patt (@Bulls_Jay) November 8, 2018
Valentine hasn’t shown a whole lot of promise in his short career, and his replacement Antonio Blakeney has been nothing if not fun to watch, but the 3-8 Bulls need all the help they can get. It does not seem like help will coming from Valentine anytime soon.
