LaVine will get further evaluation on sore knee
Bulls guard Zach LaVine will travel to Los Angeles for further evaluation on his sore left knee, according to a report by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
LaVine has been experiencing pain in the knee for a few weeks. He left a game against Golden State on Jan. 14, feeling pain when he landed after a jump, then missed the next five games. At the time, LaVine said the knee had been bothering him for a while, then finally got bad enough to stop playing.
Since then, he's played in nine games and missed two with back spasms. After appearing to be less than 100 percent while scoring 12 points against Minnesota on Friday, he sat out Saturday's game against Oklahoma City.
The report said LaVine is still hoping to play in the All-Star Game next weekend, but he appears unlikely to play in the Bulls' next two games before the break. He was already declared out for Monday's home game against San Antonio.
An MRI a few weeks ago showed no significant damage, but the continuing discomfort creates concern there may be some cartilage damage that wasn't picked up on the initial test.
Green fall fallout:
Bulls coach Billy Donovan gave some insight into the Javonte Green foot injury that kept him out of Saturday's game. In the fourth quarter against Minnesota the previous night, Green lost his balance on a dunk and landed hard while his body was parallel to the ground.
"Nothing too significant, it's almost like a bruised foot," Donovan said. "When he landed, his leg was kind of up in the air and just came whipping down. He got a little bit of his wrist, thank God it wasn't too bad, but his foot really slammed into the floor.
"The news was a lot better than what it could have been. He had a hard time walking this morning, he got better as the day went on, but he certainly wasn't in position to play. ... He could use maybe a couple days."
Green was listed as questionable for Monday on the injury report.
Jones makes early return:
Derrick Jones Jr. winced a little bit after a dunking in Saturday's game. But he said everything was fine as he returned to the court while playing with a broken right index finger.
"I'm not in too much pain," he said after the game. "At the time it happens, it's like a sharp pain. I just have to get through it, so I'm not tripping.
"Personally, I love to compete and me being out since Jan. 22, I was just waiting for this pain to subside a little bit."