According to NBA.com and the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Bulls’ All-Star, Jimmy Butler, will be sidelined 3-6 weeks after an MRI earlier today confirmed “a grade 2/3 ulnar ligament sprain and small bone impaction injury to the left elbow.” Butler suffered the injury after running into a DeAndre Jordan screen during Sunday’s game against the Clippers.
Though Butler’s injury sounds serious, a team source says he won’t need surgery.
Jimmy Butler, one of the leading candidates for most Improved Player of the Year, previously started all 55 games while putting up career numbers. Butler leads the team in scoring with 20.2 points per game, and also contributes close to six rebounds, three assists and two steals per game while averaging the most minutes in the NBA at 38.9 minutes per game.
Butler’s injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Bulls after losing point guard Derrick Rose to another knee injury, and forward Taj Gibson to a sprained left ankle.
Tony Snell is likely to start for the injured Butler, but it will be up to Paul Gasol and Joakim Noah to continue to carry the team to the postseason.
The Bulls are used to playing without their best players, and somehow always find themselves as one of the top teams in the eastern conference despite playing without those players.
“It’s a huge loss, but we’ve kind of been through this before,” Kirk Hinrich said about the recent loss of Jimmy Butler. “The news about Derrick, and then Taj going down with the ankle and Jimmy going down with the elbow, I guess when it rains, it pours. We can’t sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. Nobody else is going to. We’ve got to find a way.”
