The Chicago Bulls will almost certainly end the season in the Play-In Tournament. They’ll have a shot at making the playoffs, but they undoubtedly had higher hopes than that result coming into the season. And while a lot of their struggles had to do with their middling on-court play, they also ran into some tough injury luck.
In addition to sporadic injuries that caused players to miss time, Zach LaVine dealt with some long-term issues throughout the course of the season. He ultimately had to have surgery on his foot at the beginning of February, causing him to miss the remainder of the season.
In a video posted by Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic, LaVine recently discussed his decision to have surgery and how he’s been doing since then. (H/t Elias Schuster of Bleacher Nation)
“It sucked, man. I was trying to figure out every way not to – you never want to have surgery. But I got to a conclusion, especially with what the doctor was telling me, ‘your pain level, and this thing isn’t going to heal on its own,’” LaVine said. “It was a bone that was floating around. It’s known as a non-union jones fracture, which I was dealing with for a while. I was happy to find him, and he told me, ‘You need to get it done sooner than later.’”
Zach LaVine update… pic.twitter.com/JuXcbiUx27
— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) March 9, 2024
Getting healthy is, and always should be, LaVine’s top priority, especially when it comes to the long-term outlook of his career.