{"id":104459,"date":"2024-11-01T07:30:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T11:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=104459"},"modified":"2024-11-01T07:30:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T11:30:03","slug":"zach-lavine-suffers-potential-shoulder-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/01\/zach-lavine-suffers-potential-shoulder-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-Time NBA All-Star Suffers Injury Amid Comeback Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Chicago Bulls and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lavinza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach LaVine<\/a> have been a pleasant surprise so far this season. The Bulls are currently the third seed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/10\/nba-odds-breaking-down-the-favorites-in-the-central-division\/\" target=\"_self\">Eastern Conference<\/a> (albeit extremely early) with a winning record of 3-2. Their .600 winning percentage is blowing their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/26\/2024-25-nba-betting-preview-how-many-games-will-the-bulls-win\/\" target=\"_self\">preseason win total prediction<\/a> out of the water, and that is in large part due to the play of LaVine. The Chicago Bulls standings are now in jeopardy with the recent Bulls news about the Zach LaVine injury.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Two-Time NBA All-Star Suffers Injury Amid Comeback Season<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Zach LaVine Injury<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LaVine started his season healthy and playing well. In his first four games this season, he scored 22 or more in each game. In the Bulls\u2019 most recent win against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/09\/2024-25-nba-betting-preview-orlando-magic-win-total-odds\/\" target=\"_self\">Orlando Magic<\/a>, LaVine only had 11 points but chipped in with ten rebounds. LaVine is averaging 23 points and 6.4 rebounds a game so far this season and is shooting over 50% from the field and 40% from three.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Zach LaVine through four games:<\/p>\n<p>26 points per game on 69.8% true shooting<\/p>\n<p>45.7% from three on 8.8 attempts per game<br \/>65.6% from two-point range<br \/>He&#39;s all the way back to looking like a high-level off-ball scorer. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SAwqNp3s63\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/SAwqNp3s63<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ricky O&#39;Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SBN_Ricky\/status\/1851246242006773985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right as things seemed to be going well for the Bulls, bad injury luck struck them once again. <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KCJHoop\/status\/1852086183850885200\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reports just came out<\/a> that LaVine, who was enjoying a bounce-back year after last season\u2019s injury-riddled campaign, has suffered a partial dislocation of his shoulder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LaVine is listed as questionable for the Bulls&#8217; next game, however, with his injury history, it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if the Bulls played it safe. LaVine spoke on the injury, saying he hopes to play in Friday\u2019s game. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI try to play through everything,\u201d LaVine said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>The Bulls Injury Bug<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Besides LaVine missing most of last season with injury, the Bulls have been dealing with injury issues to another one of their big names for a while now. Bulls guard <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/balllo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lonzo Ball<\/a> continues to struggle with injuries. Ball signed on a four-year, $80 million deal with the Bulls, and the guard has only been able to play only 38 games for Chicago due to chronic knee issues. Now, Ball is facing another setback. News broke on Ball saying a right wrist sprain is expected to keep him out for at least 10 days.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So far this season, Ball\u2019s minutes have been limited. He\u2019s averaging 4.7 points on 35.7 percent shooting, 3.7 assists, and 2.7 rebounds in just 15.7 minutes per game, which is way below his career averages of 11.8 points, 6.2 assists, and 5.7 rebounds. Though the Bulls are off to a 3-2 start, Ball\u2019s availability has been a bonus rather than a necessity. With Ball\u2019s injury history, he remains a defensive asset but far from a core piece of Chicago\u2019s rotation.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Josh Giddey was HOOPIN.<\/p>\n<p>20 pts | 11 rebs | 5 ast | 6-11 FG | 4-4 from three <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gXXXoAKpYs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/gXXXoAKpYs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chicagobulls\/status\/1851826995279335804?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 31, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Bulls LaVine Injury Insurance<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With LaVine potentially out and Ball shelved, someone on the Bulls depth chart will need to step up. Last season, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whiteco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coby White<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vucevni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Vucevic<\/a> led the Bulls offensively, and they are ready to pick up any touches left behind by a potential LaVine injury absence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bulls newcomer <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/giddejo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Giddey<\/a> could also be in line for more touches. Giddey has had a solid start to his tenure in Chicago, averaging 15.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 5.8 assists so far this season. All of these stats are improvements from his stats last year with the Oklahoma City Thunder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Bulls and Zach LaVine have been a pleasant surprise so far this season. The Bulls are currently the third seed in the Eastern Conference (albeit extremely early) with a winning record of 3-2. Their .600 winning percentage is blowing their preseason win total prediction out of the water, and that is in large [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5284,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1608,62,3],"tags":[1782,4276,667,4745,474,457],"class_list":["post-104459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulls","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-coby-white","tag-josh-giddey","tag-lonzo-ball","tag-nba-injuries","tag-nikola-vucevic","tag-zach-lavine"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}