The Chicago Bulls are currently on a five-game losing streak, which has them down to fourth place in the East with a 39-26 record. However, they have received a huge update on defensive standout Alex Caruso, who hasn't played since January 21st after a dirty foul from Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen.

Via K.C. Johnson:

While he's not quite ready to return from the hand injury, doing contact work is a huge step in the right direction. It wouldn't be surprising to see Caruso back in the fold by next week sometime. The Bulls are still without Lonzo Ball as well though, who is recovering from a knee injury.

Chicago was shellacked by the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night and the absence of Caruso is certainly being felt from a defensive standpoint. They've gone 0-14 this season against top-3 teams in both the West and East, which doesn't bode well for their playoff aspirations. Injuries have been hitting Billy Donovan's squad hard all year long, but because of the MVP play of DeMar DeRozan, the Bulls are staying afloat.

Chi-Town is back in action on Wednesday against the lowly Detroit Pistons before facing the dark horse Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night at home. With just 4.5 games separating Chicago in fourth and the Raptors in seventh, the Bulls need to figure it out very quickly or they'll be in danger of dropping out of the top-six.