NEWSLETTER
Make it three.
Second-year forward Chandler Hutchison will receive arthroscopic surgery on his injured right shoulder, making him the third member of the team to have their 2019-20 campaign cut short due to injury.
Here’s the official announcement from the Bulls:
OFFICIAL: Chandler Hutchison to undergo arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday, March 17, to treat the acromioclavicular joint injury of his right shoulder. The projected recovery time is 12-16 weeks.
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— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) March 11, 2020
The post-surgery recovery time is projected to take 12-16 weeks, therefore ending Hutchison’s season. He will join Luke Kornet and Kris Dunn as the Bulls players to have their 2019-20 campaign cut short due to injury. And as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago tweets, Hutchison has yet to play get through one healthy NBA season. In fact, Hutchison has played just 72 games as a pro. That’s not even a full NBA season worth, folks.
Hutchison played 28 games this season, averaging 7.8 points (on 45.7 percent field goal shooting) and 3.9 rebounds pregame. He scored a career-high 21 points against the Pacers on January 29, but he failed to carve out a niche as a role player in Year 2 with the Bulls. Then again, it’s hard to do that when you are limited to 28 games.
When it comes to Hutchison’s injury history, no injury is necessarily shocking at this point. Even still, it felt increasingly evident that Hutchison wouldn’t return to the court as he continued to miss games following the All-Star break.
Hutchison, who returned from the break feeling the effects of a re-aggravated shoulder injury, told reporters that it was bothering him in the games before the break and that he felt a bit banged up after the Wizards matchup on February 11, specifically. Clearly, he didn’t recover fully from his shoulder injury earlier in the season that forced him to miss 17 straight games (19 total). And whether that’s the Bulls ‘mismanagement or merely something that couldn’t be prevented regardless of rest, this whole thing is pretty unfortunate.
Hutchison started to find his footing a bit at the end of January and the beginning of Feburary. He started to switch back to his college game, attacking the rim and playing some of the most aggressive basketball we’ve seen from him. But regardless, his season ends with an injury.
Until he’s fully healthy, what his future holds is a big fat question mark.
