Luol Deng May Be Out For the Season

March 1st, 2009 by Andrew Wamboldt

Chicago Bulls forward, Luol Deng, may be out for the season with a stress fracture in his lower leg.

When Bulls forward Luol Deng didn’t start the third quarter on Saturday, the team called the problem a tibia bone contusion.

Following the game, a more serious possibility was raised. X-rays showed that Deng might have a stress fracture in his lower leg and could be lost for the season. He’ll have an MRI exam Monday to further assess the damage.

“It’s been bothering me maybe three or four weeks,” Deng said. “I thought it was just a sprain. I had a play in the first half where I jumped up and I felt it. I’m not in pain. When I’m walking, when I get on my toes or I’m jumping, I feel it in there a little bit. But I thought it was just a bruise, but it stayed there.”

Coach Vinny Del Negro was pessimistic when he mentioned the injury following the game.

“We’ve got to wait and get results, but it doesn’t sound very good and that’s a huge blow to us,” he said. “Hopefully it’s not and hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible.”

The Bulls are going to be in a bit of a bind at the three spot going forward. John Salmons will obviously slide over into the starting small forward spot and log heavy minutes there.

With Deng out and Thabo Sefolosha traded, the Bulls really won’t have much of a backup small forward for the rest of the year. Tim Thomas, who was also injured in last night’s game, could log some small forward minutes when he comes back from injury. Kirk Hinrich also might have to slide over to the small forward spot in some small ball lineups.

With this latest injury, it is probably time to officially label Deng as an injury prone player. He has missed a solid chunk of games due to injury in three of his five seasons.

Given Deng’s contract, lack of production, and proneness to injury, the Bulls might be wise to start looking for placed to unload Deng this summer, as that contract could end up weighing down the Bulls for many years to come.