Bulls star DeMar DeRozan leaves loss to Celtics with quad injury after tripping on Al Horford
DeRozan said after Chicago's loss in Boston that he has suffered quad soreness for 8 games
Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan left Monday’s 107-99 loss to the Boston Celtics with a quadriceps strain after he collided with Al Horford at TD Garden.
DeRozan went down in the third quarter of the matchup in Boston while driving on Al Horford from the left elbow.
DeRozan down. Looks like he clipped Horford's foot trying to get to his spot
Came back in after the play but has now gone to the locker room
No word from Bulls PR yet on whether he will return pic.twitter.com/76EddH78kg— Will Gottlieb (@Will_Gottlieb) January 10, 2023
Replay shows that DeRozan clipped the inside of his right foot against Horford's left foot before falling to the floor.
Now DeRozan has left the court to the locker room. Hopefully just a little tape on the ankle? pic.twitter.com/MGw6pXguIj
— ✶ Ⓜ️𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 ▶️ ✶ (@_MarcusD3_) January 10, 2023
DeRozan, who was called for a traveling violation, remained on the ground for several moments in pain. He briefly returned to the game, but exited to the locker room shortly thereafter.
He walked on his own to the Bulls' tunnel. The Bulls then announced that he had sustained a right quadriceps strain and would not return to the game. He finished with 13 points, three rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes.
“I thought I tripped. Apparently I didn’t trip over nothing but the parquet floor,” DeRozan said, via NBC Sports Chicago. “When I tripped, my quad has been sore and bothering me and it kind of contracted a little bit more and made it a little bit more irritated. That’s all. Felt like I couldn’t move like I wanted to so I just didn’t want to limit myself and slow the team down in any way. So I made the decision to come out.
“I feel fine other than just being irritated and uncomfortable. Nothing too crazy. It’s just in that spot where [when you’re] moving, you just need that to simmer down and not be so sore and make me feel limited making certain kind of movements.”
DeRozan said after the game that he had been playing through quad soreness for several games now, and that he’d take the injury “day-by-day.”
“It’s been bothering me for eight games. I just never said nothing. I do a lot of things that nobody don’t know,” DeRozan said, via NBC Sports Chicago. “You feel it.
“To me, when the season starts, physically we go through so much stuff that you just gotta deal with it. In my mind, knock on wood, as long as nothing is torn or broke, I try to assess myself and feel like I could play through almost anything. That’s all it is. It’s nothing too serious to be extra overly concerned about. It’s just one of those uncomfortable things that I don’t want to linger and keep worrying about.”
DeRozan, 34, has experienced a career resurgence in Chicago since joining the Bulls last season following a three-year stint with the San Antonio Spurs. He made his fifth career All-Star team in 2022 as the Bulls made their first playoff appearance since 2017. In 40 games this season, he has averaged 26.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal while shooting 50.4% from the floor.
The Bulls have struggled to regain last season's playoff and are 19-21, good for ninth place in the East entering Monday. If DeRozan misses extended time, he'll join injured point guard Lonzo Ball, who hasn't played this season with a lingering knee injury that sidelined him for the second half of last season and the playoffs.
Chicago will wrap up a two-game trip with a game against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. It’s unclear if DeRozan will be available.
