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Jamal Collier, ESPN
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls will have both guard Zach LaVine and center Nikola Vucevic back for Friday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets, although both players will be on minutes restrictions and come off the bench.
Vucevic missed the Bulls’ past five games with a groin injury, but LaVine has not played since Nov. 28 with a sore right foot.
“The last couple games have not been easy for guys having to play a lot of minutes,” Vucevic said after shootaround Friday morning. “[We can] bring positive energy, have other guys not have to do as much and with our talent hopefully we can help the team. And just continue to elevate our game as a team. We’ve been playing as of lately.”
Chicago has started to turn its season around the past 17 games, going 10-7 to position itself back among the bottom of the Eastern Conference play-in race, a turnaround that coincided with LaVine’s absence.
The Bulls ranked 21st in offense (114.5 points per 100 possessions) but sixth in defense (113.3 points per 100 possessions) during LaVine’s absence, compared to 26th in offense (108.9) and 22nd in defense (116.0) during a 5-14 start with LaVine playing at the start of the season. However, LaVine was also off to one of the worst starts of his career, averaging 21 points per game while shooting 44.3%, his lowest marks since his first year in Chicago in 2017-18 when he was coming off ACL surgery.
“They caught a great rhythm in December, doing the same things we were working on in training camp,” LaVine said Friday morning. “It was great to see it actually start clicking. Run, play hard, take open shots and try to create for others is the main thing I’ve been looking at.
“It takes a while for a lot of that stuff to come into fruition. … I’m excited to be with my guys, especially at a time where things started clicking and the vibes are a lot better.”
LaVine’s name continues to be one of the more prominent ones discussed in potential trades ahead of the Feb. 8 NBA trade deadline, even though there has been little traction toward a trade.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday on “NBA Countdown” that there is currently no leaguewide market for LaVine, especially after he got off to such a slow start.
When the team struggled to begin the season, LaVine expressed his frustration with losing and did not deny questions about whether he wanted to be traded elsewhere. LaVine has changed his tune since, including last month when, while sitting out because of the foot injury, he reiterated his commitment to the team. Bulls coach Billy Donovan said this week that his conversations with LaVine have been positive, and he believed LaVine was committed to helping the Bulls win.
“My focus is coming back and helping us win,” LaVine said Friday morning. “I don’t look to the future.”
He added: “There’s nothing different that we’ve been doing other than guys got in a rhythm, understood their roles and obviously started making shots. When you win, everything gets better and you play better. I’m coming in and trying to fit in and do the same thing I was doing, just at a higher level.”