Bulls seemingly waive the white flag before Cavaliers game

With the front office weighing $70M in potential extensions of Coby White and Josh Giddey, their performance against the Thunder should have been taken as a sobering warning that more information was needed. Information that could have been gathered against Cleveland.

Instead White will miss the contest for a “rest day.”

Per K.C. Johnson, head coach Billy Donovan announced Nikola Vucevic and Giddey would also not play against the Cavs.

The Bulls can use the excuse that Vucevic is battling a calf injury and Giddey has an arm injury, but the fact remains that the team’s best three players are sitting out conveniently before a game that had the potential to bring shame to the organization if things went as they did in Oklahoma City.

One would expect Vucevic, White and Giddey to return to action on Wednesday night when they host the Miami Heat. Chicago is waiving the white flag against the Cavs, a team it doesn't match up well against, to save energy in the hopes of winning an important matchup against the Heat.

With four contests remaining in the regular season, the Bulls have a half game lead on Miami. They’re also one game back from the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 8 seed. Losing Tuesday night won’t help their chances of moving up, but saving their energy for Wednesday night could help Chicago host a home game in the play-in tournament.