Caruso is questionable vs. Jazz with a sprained ankle originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Now it’s clearer why Alex Caruso didn’t close Friday’s overtime loss at Oklahoma City.
Caruso suffered a sprained right ankle during that game and did not practice Sunday as the Chicago Bulls worked out at the Advocate Center before leaving for Utah. Caruso is officially listed as questionable for Monday’s meeting with the Utah Jazz, which begins a four-game West Coast trip as part of six straight away games for the Bulls.
“I just know there was a point in regulation where I could tell his foot was bothering him. And he said he felt like he could still go,” coach Billy Donovan said. “The last 2 minutes of overtime, it looked like he planted and I could tell he winced pretty severely. He said, ‘You gotta take me out.’ He didn’t feel like he could move well enough.”
Ayo Dosunmu replaced Caruso, who almost always closes games, with 1 minute, 58 seconds left. Donovan said the team’s medical staff doesn’t think it’s a long-term issue. Indeed, Donovan did not rule Caruso out of playing on Monday and said he was able to get up shots on Sunday after sitting out the contact portions of practice.
Donovan called the injury to Caruso’s foot, but the injury report states that it’s an ankle.
The Bulls possess substantial backcourt depth, although Caruso joins Coby White and Goran Dragić as players who have recently dealt with bumps and bruises. White returned from an eight-game absence due to a thigh contusion just as Dragić suffered a neck stinger that sidelined him for one game. Dragić returned against the Thunder but only played 11 minutes.
“Goran is still battling it. I do think he’s getting better and he’ll be fine. But having Coby is back. We have options,” Donovan said. “Our second unit had been so good early. We’ve kind of dropped there a little bit. We’ve had some different guys out. We gotta get those guys back.”
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