Bulls forward Patrick Williams to miss at least the next three games
MILWAUKEE — Less than a week ago, Bulls forward Patrick Williams was in the best frame of mind of his NBA career.
He was coming off three productive games and feeling like he finally understood his role.
By Wednesday morning, the feeling was gone.
The Bulls announced that after the victory in Detroit on Monday, Williams was sent back to Chicago to get further testing after experiencing more pain in his surgically repaired left foot. Williams missed the game against the Bucks and also will sit out the back-to-back on Friday and Saturday.
The hope is it won’t turn into another long-term issue for Williams, 23, who missed most of the 2021-22 season because of wrist surgery, then was shut down after 43 games last season with the left foot injury. Williams had surgery and used the summer to heal up, but he started complaining of discomfort over the weekend.
“Obviously, he went on the injury report as questionable with the foot [Monday],’’ coach Billy Donovan said, ‘‘and then I think in the game he mentioned that he was feeling it more at halftime. And after the game is when he really started to feel some . . . I don’t want to say significant pain but a lot more pain than he was feeling beforehand.
“When it felt like the pain was escalating, we wanted to get the imaging done just to see what’s going on. He’s got inflammation around that area. They want to figure out why, but it’s going to be at least a week or so to let that calm down, then there’s got to be a plan going forward for how to handle it.”
In 15 games, Williams was averaging 9.9 points but a career-best 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
“This was going to happen,” Williams said last week of his solid start. “Maybe not when you wanted it to happen, maybe when others thought it should happen. I would have liked it to happen November 2020. It’s November 2024, and this is where I’m at. I’m comfortable with that. No matter how it seems or how I sound about it, no one wants it more than I do.”
The hope is that it’s just normal pain associated with the healing process and putting in a career-high 28.9 minutes per game, but the fact that there is an unknown aspect with the inflammation is a concern.
“I think the biggest thing now is he’s got to get with a doctor and get some consultation just in terms of letting the doctor look at the imaging and see what the next steps are going to be for him,” Donovan said.
Deflated Ball
This was the extra week that Lonzo Ball was given to ramp up activity with the strained right wrist and try to get back to action, but Donovan admitted that it’s not happening, and Ball is getting another week.
“That will hopefully be when we start to see progress from him,” Donovan said. “I do think he’ll do more ballhandling, do more shooting, but for him to be really ramped up where we can see, it’s probably going to be [another week].”
Ball, who was on a minutes restriction because of the surgery on his left knee, has only played in three games this season.
Talk it out
One of the biggest issues with the Bulls’ defense — and there are many — is the lack of communication. Donovan wants it fixed.
“That is a flat-out issue,” Donovan said. “Like, generally when you communicate, you’re never wrong because it at least gives direction to everyone else on what to do.”