As has been the case for most of the year, several rostered Indiana Pacers contributors will be on the shelf for the 3-16 club’s latest clash, a matchup with the 9-9 Chicago Bulls. After a red-hot 6-0 season start, the Bulls have gone just 3-9 since. Six Pacers will be unavailable for the action Saturday with injuries.
Now, injury issues have caught up to Chicago. Five Bulls players have already been ruled out for today’s matchup.
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Per the league’s latest injury report, starting point guard Andrew Nembhard has seen his status upgraded to questionable, as he seeks to return from a right quad contusion.
Starting small forward Aaron Nesmith (left knee MCL sprain) remains sidelined, however, along with the five usual suspects in two-time All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton (out for the year with a right Achilles tendon tear), power forward Obi Toppin (out until at least February with a right foot stress fracture), and guards Johnny Furphy (left ankle sprain), Quenton Jackson (right hamstring strain), and Kam Jones (lower back stress reaction).
Bulls Absences
The Bulls will be missing at least five players. Backup center Zach Collins has been unavailable all year due to a left scaphoid fracture. Rookie forward Noa Essengue, drafted ahead of the exact kind of young center Chicago clearly needs in now-New Orleans Pelicans big Derrick Queen, is out with a left shoulder contusion. His absence won’t resonate much, as he’s not a part of head coach Billy Donovan’s preferred rotation anyway.
Starting small forward Isaac Okoro will be on the shelf recovering from a left lumbar radiculopathy. Backup big man Jalen Smith, a former Pacer, will be out with a strained left hamstring. Backup wing Dalen Terry has a strained left calf, although he’s not particularly useful anyway.
Bulls shooting guard Coby White, who did play in Chicago’s shockingly listless 123-116 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, has been downgraded to merely questionable to play through a right calf strain.
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Chicago starting center Nikola Vucevic (right knee patellofemoral syndrome), reserve shooting guard Ayo Dosunmu (illness), and backup combo forward Patrick Williams (sprained left wrist) are all probable to play.
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