NEWSLETTER
According to the latest official injury report, DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso are questionable for the Chicago Bulls’ matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.
DeRozan was forced to leave Wednesday night’s game against the 76ers due to a quad strain. It’s the same injury that held him out of several games between January and February this season.
While DeRozan isn’t one to miss many games, there is undoubtedly concern about him having to play through this injury throughout the remainder of the season. Some of his least efficient scoring nights of the year came when he was supposedly playing through the discomfort. With the Bulls in the middle of a close race for one of the final Play-In Tournament spots, there is no worse time for the six-time All-Star to have this issue flare up again.
Meanwhile, Alex Caruso continues to deal with a lingering foot injury. The Bulls’ best defensive player has missed the last two games with the issue, even though he did attempt to warm up with the team before their second meeting with Philly. Arguably just as important as DeRozan to the team’s two-way efficiency, getting Caruso back on the floor sooner than later can go a long way toward locking in a Play-in Tournament seed. This feels especially true when we consider the team will play four of the league’s top-15 offenses over their final 10 games.
