Bulls Coach Announces Hopeful Coby White Return Date

‘‘The problem is when they all came back after Labor Day, the calf issue was bothering him,’’ Donovan said before the game, according to the Chicago Sun Times. 

‘‘Treatment, rehab, all that stuff. And then every time they kind of ramped him up a little bit, it kind of always got to a place where he felt tightness. It wasn’t pain, but every time they got to this threshold, he felt tightness. So they basically just shut him down.’’

While Donovan stopped short of providing a set-in-stone return date for White, the Bulls’ coach did share what he believed the hopeful and realistic timeline is that the team could see its emerging guard return after a breakthrough 2024-25 season.

“‘I would say the optimism, the hope, would be, ‘Can we get him in the last preseason game to play?’ ’’ Donovan continued. ‘‘And the hope is he would be ready to start the season.’’

Winning Without White

In White’s absence on Tuesday, the Bulls started Kevin Huerter in the backcourt and received a promising performance from second-year guard Matas Buzelis. Buzelis scored 19 points on 7-of-11 from the field overall, while Isaac Okoro added 11. The rest of the starting lineup had a day to forget, as Huerter, Josh Giddey, and Nikola Vucevic scored just three points each. 

The Chicago Bulls continue their preseason schedule on Thursday, again facing the Cleveland Cavaliers but this time back on home ground at the United Center in Chicago. The Bulls’ remaining three preseason games after that come against the Milwaukee Bucks (home), the Denver Nuggets (road), and the Minnesota Timberwolves (home). 

The Bulls open the regular season two weeks from Wednesday, as they’ll host the Detroit Pistons at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST. They’ll look to improve on consistently lackluster finishes that have plagued the team over the last three seasons, en route to three consecutive finishes in either ninth or tenth place in the Eastern Conference.