CHICAGO (670 The Score) – Bulls star guard Zach LaVine will sit out due to left knee soreness when Chicago hosts Milwaukee on Tuesday evening at the United Center.
LaVine has been dealing with the ailing knee since January, and he’ll sit on the front end of the Bulls’ back-to-back. Bulls coach Billy Donovan didn’t commit to LaVine returning to action Wednesday but did note LaVine is “doing OK.” LaVine sat out practice Monday.
“I don’t know where he’ll be at tomorrow, where that leaves him,” Donovan said. “Like I said, it’s more kind of day-to-day, the next day, see how he’s feeling, how he’s doing. He didn’t do anything today at shootaround.
“Zach’s doing OK. I think sometimes he – as competitive as he is, he wants to be out there playing – but I think he’s trying to make good, wise choices. It’s between Zach and the medical staff in terms of what they deem and he feels is best.”
LaVine is averaging 24.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 65 games this season. Tuesday will mark the 10th game he’ll miss due to left knee pain or injury management.
In other Bulls injury news, hope continues to wane that guard Lonzo Ball could return to action at any point this season after having left knee injury in late January. After recently being shut down for 10 days, Ball has gradually started to ramp back up but is still experiencing discomfort in his knee when he tries to do activity and running near full speed, Donovan said.
Ball, his representation and the Bulls will have a meeting in the coming day or two to determine the next course of action. The expectation is Ball will soon be shut down for the remainder of the season.
“It’s disappointing from the standpoint that you were hoping that the time that he had off could help him maybe propel going forward and do a little bit more, but that certainly hasn’t been the case,” Donovan said.
Ball is averaging 13.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.8 steals in 35 games while shooting 42.3% from 3-point range.
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.