Saturday night's injury comes at a rough time for Jalen Smith, who was in the midst of his best stretch as a Chicago Bull.
During the early third quarter of Saturday night's Bulls' loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Jalen Smith collided with LaMelo Ball, taking a hard hit to the head and a rough fall in the process.
Smith did not return to the game as he was being evaluated for a concussion.
Smith will enter concussion protocol, meaning he will won't be able to return to the court until he is able to clear a series of tests related to his head injury. The first game Smith will miss is Chicago's matchup with the (surprisingly) 3-seed Boston Celtics on Monday.
The injury comes at a specifically terrible time for Smith, who was in the middle of his best stretch as a Chicago Bull at the time he went down. In Saturday's loss to Charlotte, Smith had 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks and an assist in 15 minutes. He had hit a 3-pointer and collected a block right out of halftime, before his injury. At the time Smith went down, the Bulls were leading 61-56.
The Bulls--as you would expect--lost a bit of energy following the long stoppage, on top of losing Smith, who appeared to be on his way to having a great game. Chicago went on to lose the 3rd quarter by a score of 32-17. The Bulls eventually rallied and manage to respond better in the 4th, but the damage was already done, as Charlotte went on to secure a 112-99 win.
Jalen Smith played 15 minutes per game last season, and that figure went up to 17.7 minutes per game this year. Billy Donovan has been willing to try out double-big lineups this season, and he has deployed them to great effect, mostly because of Smith's bounce back 3-point shooting. This season, Smith is shooting 36% on 3.8 attempts per game from 3-point range after shooting a paltry 32% last season.
At this time, we don't know precisely how long Smith will be out, but everyday that passes by without him in the rotation will be extremely tough for the Donovan and his coaching staff. Nikola Vucevic currently stands as the only 100% healthy body in the Bulls frontcourt, creating likely rebounding issues for a team that had been excelling in that area to this point. The Bulls have been able to withstand a myriad of injuries this season, and see themselves sitting at a surprising--considering their absences--17-18 and 9th seed in the Eastern Conference.
Jalen Smith will be back at some point, and the Bulls can only hope he regains his excellent form upon his return. But until then, the Bulls will be searching for answers to a problem that doesn't seem to have many simple solutions.