Well, we haven’t even hit the official NBA offseason and the Bulls have already been dealt a heavy blow. Injuries seem to be a consistent enemy of the Bulls each season. With about 4 months until the start of the 2021-22 season, the Bulls have their first injury. Unfortunately for the team, it occurred in their weakest position group. Bulls guard Coby White was injured over the weekend which required surgery.
Coby White’s shoulder surgery repaired his labrum, per sources. The team release said he will be re-evaluated in 4 months. Depending on rehab, timeline is 4 months on front end and 6 months on back end, per sources.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) June 10, 2021
As you can tell from the release this was no minor surgery. White will be reevaluated in 4 months with the possibility of being out 6 months. According to the Bulls statement, White was injured while engaging in basketball activities away from the team. This is an immeasurable blow for this Bulls team in many ways. While White had an up and down season he showed strong growth by the end of the season. He was going to get a full offseason in under head coach Billy Donovan and he could continue to grow as a point guard. Now it’s possible he won’t touch the floor until December. This injury leaves the Bulls in a vulnerable spot going into the offseason.
How will the Bulls recover from this?
Well everyone who follows the NBA knew that the Bulls would be looking for a point guard this offseason. This news just makes searches that much more important. Most people believed the Bulls would be looking to bring in a new starting point guard. So while this news stings it was already clear the Bulls wanted a new starter at PG. However, this does put the Bulls in a more vulnerable position. The league knows they are in dire need of a new point guard. The players know they are in dire need of a new point guard. The asking price may have just gone up for guards around the league.
Plenty of talk around the league already existed about the Bulls focusing on adding a guard this offseason. Coby White shoulder injury news—and the team release said he would be re-evaluated in 4 months, not that he for sure will be ready then—only will intensify that talk.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) June 10, 2021
The talks around the Bulls getting a new point guard will intensify due to this. The Bulls simply don’t have enough pieces at the point guard position to recover from this right now. Since the offseason hasn’t even officially started yet we don’t know what the Bulls plan to do. Are they going to clean house with most of their free agents and bring in fresh blood? Are they going to keep what they have and look for a cheaper point guard upgrade? The plan is still unclear but this news means a new point guard is 100% necessary.
Who’s out there for the Bulls?
The obvious point guard candidate that everyone has been talking about for months is Lonzo Ball. He’s been linked to the Bulls since before the trade deadline. Now that he’s a free agent the Bulls can realistically go after him. His asking price will be high but if the Bulls want him I’m sure they can get him. Is he worth the price tag he’s going to be asking around $20 million a season? That all depends on the market. If a player with his skillset is at that mark then the Bulls won’t have many options.
There are other unrestricted free agent point guards available this offseason but they will also come with a hefty price tag. If the Bulls are trying to look at a cheaper option they can look towards Austin River, Reggie Jackson, Elfrid Payton, and many others. I’m not saying that’s the route they should go but if the Bulls don’t want to go after the big money point guards those are the type of options they are looking at. There’s also my hometown favorite, Derrick Rose, but he may be looking for more than he’s worth after coming off a nice season with the Knicks.
Here’s hoping for quick healing
All we can do now is hope that White recovers quicker than expected. While the reevaluation will happen in 4 months he likely won’t hit the court at that time. Even if he’s looking good at that point he will likely need some time to get back into the shape conditioning-wise. With that being right around the start of the season he will probably take some time to rest up and get to 100%. The Bulls have a lot of important moves to make this offseason and point guard is number one on the list.
So hitting the PG market hard just became that much more important.
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) June 10, 2021
This injury just shined a spotlight on the Bull’s point guard moves. They need to put themselves in a better position at point guard now that they have two All-Stars on the team. Everyone knows it and now it’s time for the Bulls front office to get out there and execute.
