The Chicago Bulls found out on Saturday that they will be without Zach LaVine for the remainder of the season. LaVine has battled multiple injuries this season, but the most recent one will keep him on the sidelines for the rest of the year. LaVine hasn't played for the Bulls in a couple weeks, and he is now having foot surgery. Chicago played their first game since getting the news against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night, and they lost, 123-115.
Even before the news came out that Zach LaVine would miss the rest of the year, the Bulls knew that they would be without him for their game against the Kings. Still, it makes you wonder, did that injury news have any impact on the team during the game? Billy Donovan shared his thoughts on the question after the loss.
“I don't think so,” Billy Donovan said to the media after the game. “Because I mean, I know Zach's got a great relationship with those guys. And those guys care about him, as we all do. And you don't want to see somebody go through that. It's probably a better question to ask them. But my gut would be that we knew that Zach wasn't going to play tonight. You know what I mean? So it wasn't like he was going to be out there. If it had an impact on them in terms of really feeling bad for a teammate and a guy that they've got a good relationship with, possibly. And I don't want to make it seem at all like our guys don't care, but it's not like we're going into this game where all of a sudden, we found out right before tip that he wasn't going to play. Guys go in and out of the lineup all the time. I mean, there's a lot of things now, we have gametime decisions and some guys can't try to go and can't go but certainly I think they probably feel really bad for Zach and disappointed that he can't be part of it.”
LaVine has battled multiple injuries at this point, so his Bulls teammates are used to going out and playing without him. Still, he is one of the best players on this team, and he will certainly be missed for the rest of the year.
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