Amid his name being on the trade market, Zach LaVine is expected to be out 1-2 weeks with an ankle sprain. According to Shams Charania, LaVine suffered the injury against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.
With the Bulls later confirming that LaVine will miss at least a week. After suffering the injury initially and exiting to the locker room, he later returned to the bench and tried to play through it. Though, his production was hampered.
The ankle sprain comes at an unfortunate time for LaVine, who has gauged some interest on the trade market over the last couple of weeks. The 10-year veteran recently missed all of December with an injury, so being injured again won’t help his value in a trade. Even then, it’s likely that the Bulls could still look to move him as things have not gone according to planned. The Bulls are currently the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference, which is far below their expectations from their big three.
Due to the falter, LaVine has faced criticism for his perceived selfish play. LaVine’s contract has been the big thing suppressing his trade value but the injuries certainly won’t help either. In the seven games he played in January, the Bulls went 5-2 while utilizing LaVine in a complementary offensive role. He averaged 15.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 5.3 APG on .487/.390/.810 shooting in that span. While playing approximately 34 minutes per game in that span as well.
If the Bulls don’t end up moving LaVine at or before the trade deadline, the expectation would be they likely will in the offseason. The Bulls need to tear it down and restart. Since acquiring the veteran and building a big three with DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic. The Bulls have only made the playoffs twice in that span, but never gone past the first round of the playoffs.
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