Things were beginning to look up for the Chicago Bulls. Amid rumors of a midseason blowup that may involve a Zach LaVine trade, among others, the Bulls have begun to play better as of late, going 8-3 heading into their Monday night contest against the Boston Celtics to climb into ninth place in the Eastern Conference. However, DeMar DeRozan suffered a non-contact lower body injury in the third quarter of their 107-99 loss to the Celtics, putting a damper on what had been such a strong past few weeks for the Bulls.

In the third quarter, with the Bulls down by just four, 63-59, DeMar DeRozan had Al Horford isolated at the top of the key. DeRozan was putting on the moves to get to his spot so he could pull up for his classic midrange jumper. But right after pulling off a between-the-legs crossover, he fell straight down to the ground without even a graze from Horford. He tried to play through the injury but ended up exiting the game for good eventually.

After the game, head coach Billy Donovan provided an update on DeRozan's injury, saying that while he may have dodged a major season-ending injury, he still may have suffered a quad injury that could linger.

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“He felt like he strained [his quad] when he went down. […] He felt like he had gotten tripped,” Donovan said, per Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic.

It remains unclear just how severe DeMar DeRozan's quad injury is. Per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, DeRozan said that the quad strain is “nothing too crazy” and that he'd get treatment for it so he could try and play through it. He then added that this quad issue isn't new, having played through some sort of pain on his quad over the past eight games.

However, try as DeRozan might, the Bulls could err on the side of caution and rule him out for at least their next game, especially when this quad strain he suffered vs. the Celtics seems to be an exacerbation of the quad problem that has been bothering him for the past few games.