Zach LaVine missed out on the first two games of the 2022-23 campaign but aims to make his season debut against the Cavaliers on Saturday.
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Thanks to DeMar DeRozan’s resurrection last year, the Chicago Bulls were a much better-performing franchise than they’ve been in recent history. Finishing the 2021-2022 regular season with a 46-36 record, Billy Donovan’s boys made the playoffs for the first time in 5 years.
After a somewhat successful season last year, the Bulls have started this new campaign with a 1-1 record – defeating the Heat & losing to the Wizards. And during these two clashes, Deebo and co. were playing without the likes of their All-Star leader Zach LaVine.
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For those who don’t remember, Zach had sustained a horrific injury in his knee during a clash against the GSW back in January. Receiving injections during the 2022 All-Star break, the highflyer was restricted to 67 games. Further, the shooting guard needed to undergo left knee arthroscopic surgery.
“Zach LaVine will be available against Cleveland”: Bill Donovan
LaVine was expected to be on the team’s lineup during the season opener against the Miami Heat. However, the 6-foot-5 All-Star felt “discomfort and soreness” in his knee, resulting in missing the first two games.
In Washington, ahead of the clash against the Wizards, LaVine had a 45-minute practice session with the team.
Talking about the same, coach Billy Donovan revealed how the 27-year-old “feels fine”.
Further, before the Wizards-Bulls clash, Donovan made it pretty clear that we would see the former UCLA Bruin in full force against the Cavaliers on Saturday night.
“He should play tomorrow,” the Bulls’ head coach told reporters ahead of Friday’s road matchup with the Washington Wizards. “After the last game against Miami, sitting down, talking, looking at the schedule, felt like it was good to give him another game here. He’ll be available tomorrow against Cleveland provided everything else goes well, which it should.”
Will LaVine be on any sort of minute restriction?
While addressing the reporters, the Bulls’ coach revealed that the former NBA Dunk Champion wouldn’t have any sort of minute restriction during Saturday’s clash vs Darius Garland and co.
However, Billy stated that he would refrain from playing LaVine in the 38-40 minutes range.
With Chicago’s All-Star duo of LaVine and DeRozan taking on Cleveland’s new-looking backcourt featuring Garland and Donovan Mitchell, the clash promises to be an exciting one.
LaVine had a solid 24.4/4.6/4.5 outing this past season, and it will be interesting to see what numbers he puts up this campaign considering his knee could bother him slightly for the coming weeks.
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