The Chicago Bulls have announced that Torrey Craig will be sidelined for another two weeks with an ankle sprain.
The veteran forward has yet to play in 2025 after sustaining a lower-body injury following the team’s victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Dec. 30, 2024. Already missing six straight contests, Craig is in line to add at least eight more to the list. However, we can probably assume this number will continue to grow, as Craig will likely need a reconditioning period once he is given the all-clear to return to on-court activity.
Torrey Craig Out Two More Weeks
All things considered, Craig’s absence is a manageable one for the Chicago Bulls. He entered the season outside of Billy Donovan’s rotation and appeared in only nine games before suffering his latest injury. The Bulls have leaned far more heavily toward their young wings like Matas Buzelis, Julian Phillips, and Patrick Williams.
With that said, Craig did appear in three straight games before going down with an injury. He can provide a stabilizing 3-and-D presence off the bench, especially in matchups against more traditionally-sized power forwards. Losing even the option to sub him in will undoubtedly make Donovan’s life harder on certain nights.
We also shouldn’t ignore the fact that this news comes less than a month before the NBA trade deadline. While Craig wasn’t getting much playing time to begin with, the Bulls may have hoped to use this month to showcase the veteran. It’s not hard to picture certain contenders viewing Craig as a serviceable and inexpensive mid-season addition. Is this still possible? Absolutely. Craig should be able to bounce back from an ankle sprain after this time off. But it also doesn’t take much for a team to talk themselves out of a deal. Having only nine games to evaluate Craig this season could make some uncomfortable.
If Craig only needed these two weeks to recover, he would have five games left before the Feb. 6 deadline. But, again, the fact the Bulls label this as a two-week “re-evaluation” implies that he will likely need to miss more time.