Bulls’ Torrey Craig Out at Least 2-4 Weeks With Knee Injury Suffered During Workout

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVFebruary 21, 2024

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The Chicago Bulls announced on Tuesday that veteran Torrey Craig will be re-evaluated in 2-4 weeks after suffering a right knee sprain during a workout over the weekend.

Head coach Billy Donovan also provided an update on Patrick Williams, telling reporters that the big man is still experiencing mild discomfort in his left foot and the team would proceed “very, very careful.”

Williams has missed the past nine games with the injury.

Craig, 33, has appeared in 33 games for the Bulls this season (eight starts), averaging 6.1 points and 4.7 rebounds in 21 minutes per contest while shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 37.4 percent from three.

But staying healthy has been an issue, as he previously missed 22 games this season to a sprained plantar fascia.

Health has become a major issue for these Bulls in general. Alongside the absences of Craig and Williams, star guard Zach LaVine—the subject of consistent trade rumors since the summer—is already out for the year with a right foot injury that required surgery.

“He did everything he could to try to get himself back to playing,” Donovan told reporters earlier in February. “I think the discomfort in his foot was at a place where I think he just didn’t feel like he had any chance of being himself and contributing. And I think that was really frustrating and hard for him.”

Those injuries have left the Bulls very thin on the wing, and the head coach hinted on Tuesday that relying too heavily on DeMar DeRozan, Coby White and Alex Caruso wasn’t sustainable.

“I don’t know if we can keep doing what we’ve been doing,” he told reporters, speaking on the heavy minutes load the trio has been forced to bear. “We’ll have to figure some things out going forward.”

The Bulls, despite a disappointing 26-29 record, are still very much in the playoff hunt. The team currently sits ninth in the Eastern Conference standings, putting them in position to secure one of the four Play-In Tournament berths.

The team’s dwindling depth won’t help those efforts, however, with Craig the latest casualty of Chicago’s persistent injury bug.