The Bulls season hasn’t even started yet and players are already getting into trouble.
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Two players, Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic got in a fight during a practice session on Tuesday. The fight left Mirotic with a concussion and multiple broken bones in his face.
Mirotic is expected to be out for 4-6 weeks but also needs to clear concussion protocol before we can return to play.
No statement has been made with regards to how things escalated to the point they did. Some suspect it was the heat of the moment as the two players were fighting for the same position.
Sources: Portis, Mirotic were getting verbal, physical and escalated into punches. Portis connected, Mirotic stayed down several minutes.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 17, 2017
This has been three years in the making, a source said. Mirotic has broken bones in his face, apparently instigated, and Portis punched him
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) October 17, 2017
Now Portis is being suspended by the team for eight games. He will still be allowed to practice while he is suspended.
The Bulls have tweeted out statements from both Head Coach Fred Hoiberg and President of Basketball Operations John Paxson, stating their support of both players and to try to maintain team unity.
“Bobby Portis is not a bad person. He’s a good kid but he made a mistake.” – John Paxson
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 18, 2017
“As a head coach, I’m very disappointed in what happened. Our locker room is a family. ” – Coach Fred Hoiberg pic.twitter.com/DFCuNNkoLo
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 18, 2017
“As teammates, we certainly support Bobby and Niko. But as basketball players, we know we got to get down to business [on Thursday].” – @rolopez42
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 18, 2017
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The Bulls went 42-40 last year ending up in 9th place in the Eastern Conference. They went 3-3 in the pre-season this year.
The Bulls open their season at Toronto at 6:30 PM tonight.