The Chicago Bulls came out like gang busters to start the 2021-2022 NBA season. DeMar DeRozan was in the NBA MVP conversation. Zach LaVine was crushing it on a nightly basis and Nikola Vucevic was doing what Vucevic does, dominate the paint. But as the season has progressed, the Bulls have shown kinks in the armor. They have fallen in the standings in the eastern conference all the way to the sixth seed. At one point, it looked as though Chicago was in danger of dropping into the play-in tournament. But with three games remaining in the regular season, the Cleveland Cavaliers are two and a half games back, so that seems safe. Nevertheless, things have not looked good during the second half of the season.

On Tuesday, it got worse with the news that point guard Lonzo Ball is being shut down for the rest of the season, including playoffs. Although Ball is not one of the premier scorers in the league, that is still a big blow to the Bulls’ postseason hopes regardless.

Here are the three glaring reasons the Chicago Bulls won’t survive Lonzo Ball’s injury.

3 Glaring Reasons Why the Bulls Will Not Survive Lonzo Ball’s Injury

1. Depth of the Bulls

Chicago is already struggling with their depth. With Lonzo Ball out of the lineup, the Bulls have been starting Ayo Dosunmu at point guard. Dosunmu was drafted 38th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft out of Illinois. He had a pretty good career that really gained steam before he entered the draft. But was never known as a great ball handler.

In his rookie season this year, Dosunmu 8.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. He is an efficient shooter, hitting at over 51 percent, but has clear deficiencies in his game.

Alex Caruso is also dealing with a back injury and will miss at least the next game. It’s not yet known when Caruso will return. The only other guard the team employs on a regular basis is Coby White. None of those options scream ball distributor.

Chicago could always shift Zach LaVine to shooting guard and move Caruso to point when he is healthy. But that then requires added minutes from Javonte Green and Patrick Williams. That’s far from ideal as the playoffs approach.

2. Depth of the Eastern Conference

It was already going to be very difficult for the Bulls to even come out of the east. The Miami Heat have been playing at another level. The Boston Celtics have been arguably the best team in the NBA during the second half of the season. The Philadelphia 76ers have looked much better without the Ben Simmons distraction and might win the Atlantic Division. Even the Brooklyn Nets, despite being the eighth seed, have Kyrie Irving playing full time now alongside Kevin Durant.

Oh, and don’t forget the NBA’s defending world champion Milwaukee Bucks. Chicago has already shown they struggle against the elite teams.

So, it was going to be hard enough to come through that. But without your floor general, that’s darn near impossible. Ball led the team in assists with over five per game. He was easily have the best year of his career this year with the Bulls. Ball overall numbers were not crazy, but they were almost career-highs across the board.

3. Ball is best two-way player on the team

Gone are the days when Lonzo Ball could not shoot. He is knocking down his three’s at over 42 percent, which would rank him seventh in the entire NBA this season. However, having only played 35 games, he does not qualify to be ranked. Regardless, that was his biggest weakness when he entered the league. It was to the point that fans constantly made fun of his jump shot, with it looking so awkward. Clearly, that was something that the Bulls point guard worked on.

But most importantly, Ball’s presence on the defensive end will be missed. He is the defensive leader who sets the tone. Ball does not get enough credit for that side of the ball, but even in his UCLA days, he was an elite defender. Ball is long and very athletic. With the amount of talent around him, it has allowed him to flex his defensive muscle.

Chicago’s back court leader is averaging 1.8 steals per game this season, a career-high. That would have him third in the entire NBA were he to qualify behind only Dejounte Murray and Chris Paul.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that the Bulls had Lonzo Ball on the court for the first couple months and the team looked like the best team in the conference. He last played on January 14th. Since then, the Bulls have gone 18-21 with their defensive metrics falling off the table.

Chicago is not going to be able to overcome this loss and will likely fall in the first round of the playoffs.