Bulls' Butler to miss game with sprained knee
MINNEAPOLIS — Chicago Bulls All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler will not play Saturday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves because of a sprained left knee.
Butler injured the knee late in the second quarter of Friday night’s loss to the Denver Nuggets. He was scheduled to have an MRI on the knee Saturday morning in Minneapolis. The results of that MRI were unclear, though Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg had said Friday that the initial diagnosis was that Butler did not have any ligament damage.
Butler was injured after he went up for a basket and was fouled by Nuggets big man Joffrey Lauvergne. Initially, it appeared as if Butler’s right knee got caught underneath him as he fell, but it was the left knee that was injured.
A cart was wheeled out to the floor to take Butler back to the locker room, but he stayed in the game to take his free throws. A few moments later he got back onto the cart and was wheeled to the locker room to be evaluated.
Butler walked out of the training room about 15 minutes after the injury and was wearing a large ice pack around his left knee. He kept a good sense of humor about the injury, telling staff members, “Y’all get me the Forrest Gump knee brace.”
“He said he heard something pop,” Bulls point guard Derrick Rose said of Butler. “But with my knees I knew that it was something serious. But I came back [to the locker room] a couple of times when I was using the restroom — it just seemed that they were icing it and I guess it was nothing major.”
Saturday’s game marks the second game that Butler has missed this season. The 26-year-old missed his first game of the season Wednesday because of left knee tendinitis.
In other injury-related news, Pau Gasol was questionable for Saturday’s game because of a left hand sprain. Gasol missed Friday’s game after injuring his hand in Wednesday night’s win over the Sacramento Kings.
Veteran Mike Dunleavy was listed as questionable for Saturday’s game as well. Dunleavy, who has not played all year after offseason back surgery, sounded optimistic about playing on Saturday after Friday’s shootaround. He is expected to have a minutes restriction whenever he does make his season debut as he works his way back into the lineup.
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