On Friday, Bulls PG Tre Jones was diagnosed with a left hamstring strain, a tough blow as the team was getting back to full strength.
On Friday, Chicago Bulls PG Tre Jones was diagnosed with a left hamstring strain, a tough blow as the team was getting back to full strength. Josh Giddey had just returned from a long injury-related absence on Thursday night, putting up 21 points, 6 rebound, and 5 assists on a minutes restriction as the Bulls picked up perhaps their best win of the season, a 120-115 triumph over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Coby White--who is starting to get into a good groove shooting-wise--has only played 23 games this season as a result of lower leg injuries of his own (calf strain). And now, it looks like the injury bug has come for another member of the Bulls productive guard group.
It's a particularly tough blow for Chicago on multiple fronts. For starters, Jones' presence as a steady plug-and-play point guard option allowed Bulls head coach Billy Donovan to ease White and Giddey back into action as they returned from their respective injuries. And on top of that, Jones was simply put one of the better players on the team at the time of this injury.
Jones put up 12 points, 7 assists, and only 2 turnovers in Chicago's 120-115 win in Minnesota. Prior to Thursday's game, Jones had collected 10 assists in back-to-back games, providing further evidence to cement his status as the best backup PG--and perhaps best bench player--in the league.
The Bulls' update said Jones will be reevaluated in two weeks, which, of course, means there is no guarantee that he is ready to play in two weeks, so we will have to wait for further updates at that time. In the meantime, the Bulls will try to navigate a stretch that includes games against the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, and three consecutive games against the rival Miami Heat.
Without Jones in tow, we will see Donovan get more creative with his rotations by force, as Jones was third on the team in total minutes this season at 1,020 minutes (26.8 minutes per game). We will also witness different players tasked with more playmaking responsibility, as Jones was one of two players on the Bulls--with Giddey being the other--with 200+ assists for the Bulls so far this season.
This will no doubt be a tough stretch, but how the Bulls deal with this adversity ahead of the sure-to-be-emotional Derrick Rose jersey retirement game, and a series of contests against the team that has ended their season multiple times in a row, will tell us a lot about the direction of (the rest) of the 2025-26 season.