(670 The Score) Bulls forward Thad Young revealed Monday that the lower leg infection he has been dealing with was caused by Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA and which causes staph infections.
Young is recovering well, he said while admitting he was frightened when first learning of the details of his health scare. On Monday, Young did light individual work to the side while missing the Bulls’ practice once again.
“I knew nothing about MRSA, which apparently is a big deal,” Young said. “I started to kind of Google it once I was told what I had actually got. I seen stories about Grant Hill apparently almost losing his basketball career over MRSA and stuff like that and other athletes catching it and having a difficult time dealing with it. Thank god we caught it super early. Just been dealing with it, trying to get myself back. It’s healing well now. I just got cleared to start doing some kind of activity, whether it’s like getting on the bike or a light run and shooting. I’ve been doing upper body lifts, so hopefully I can start doing lower leg stuff soon. But yeah, that’s what I had.”
Young, 32, had been planning to play in the Bulls’ preseason opener on Dec. 11 before going to the doctor for further evaluation when his leg bothered him during shootaround that morning. He soon learned he had a serious situation to address.
“She went and got three or four of the doctors,” Young said of the scene in the hospital. “Usually when they go get three or four of the doctors and get them in the room with you, then something's wrong. Like, really wrong. So that's when I started to get a little worried about it. But like I said, I'm definitely happy that we kind of jumped on it, because she immediately had to do like a little procedure to kind of drain it a little bit in order for the swelling to go down and for me to kind of like get the pain as far as subsiding.”
Young wasn’t sure how he came down with the infection but added he’ll make a point to better clean equipment when he’s in the gym or fitness facilities, which is often where the bacteria can spread to create the infection.
“I was like, shit, like, MRSA is kind of like COVID in a sense,” Young said. “But, you know, just because the bacteria just kind of lingers around and you touch it and then once it gets on you, it can create this big problem.”
Young averaged 10.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 24.9 minutes across 64 games, including 16 starts, last season. He’s projected to be the Bulls’ first big man off the bench when healthy.
While the Bulls haven’t officially ruled on Young’s status for their regular-season opener against the Hawks on Wednesday, all signs point to him missing the game. He still needs to be cleared for full on-court activities, and Young believes he’ll need a “couple days” of hard practice to get back in shape and form.
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.