Bulls guard Zach LaVine leaving team to see a specialist about his knee

DeMar DeRozan might not want to fold up that red cape anytime soon.

A Bulls team source confirmed that guard Zach LaVine will head to Los Angeles to see a specialist about the discomfort he’s been having in his left knee, and could miss the rest of the week leading up to the All-Star Break.

The Bulls don’t want to rule him out of the Sacramento game on Wednesday just yet and LaVine does believe there is no major structural damage in the knee, but the fact that there has been swelling and pain going back to January is weighing on his mind.

LaVine’s plan is to still participate in the All-Star Weekend, but of course that’s tentative on what he finds out.

He’s currently expected to be in the Three-Point Contest and a reserve in the actual All-Star Game.

What’s also been weighing heavily on LaVine’s mind, however, is being available for a possible deep playoff run, as well as the huge payday that’s sitting out there this summer, as he will be atop the free-agent class, looking for a max or super max money.

He’s already missed six games with the knee, as well as two with back spasms and two while he was in the league’s coronavirus protocol, but it’s the same knee that was surgically repaired back in 2017, after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament.

Therein lies the extra caution.

If LaVine does have to have an exploratory surgery or simply have to rest the knee short-term, that would put the Bulls down yet another significant piece. Lonzo Ball has started his rehab process from left knee surgery, Patrick Williams has been getting some serious work in with his surgically-repaired left wrist and could be back in a month, and then Alex Caruso (wrist surgery) is still in his original timetable to be re-evaluated after his fracture suffered last month.

The Bulls enter this last week before the break sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference, but have one of the more difficult schedules left this season, still having to face Milwaukee three more times, Miami and Cleveland twice, plus games with Utah, Phoenix and Memphis.

That means a lot falling on the shoulders of Nikola Vucevic, but undoubtedly DeRozan having to continue carrying the franchise on his back.

Not a task the veteran hasn’t been up for, even in his last five games scoring 35 points or more in each of them. A first for him in his long career.

“I just try to go out there and try to win no matter what and whatever the outcome comes with it,” DeRozan said, when told about the streak on Saturday. “If it’s records, my sole purpose of playing the way I play is just to win and whatever accomplishments come with it they just come with it.”

DeRozan has already put himself in the MVP discussion this season, but if he can keep the Bulls afloat through all of this? He might not win the award, but he better earn some votes.

Billy Donovan has coached a lot of elite scorers in the this league – Kevin Durant, Paul George, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook to name a few – so knows how impressive DeRozan has been, especially how he’s doing it mostly from the mid-range.

“[DeRozan’s] just a different kind of scorer,” Donovan said. “Durant, obviously, is off the charts as a scorer and having Russell Westbrook as a scorer… Carmelo [Anthony] I had a little bit later, Paul George.

“In terms of how [DeRozan] plays and what he does and where he gets to on the floor in today’s day and age…. when I was coaching Chris Paul two years ago, he was an unbelievable mid-range player. The unfortunate part is in today’s NBA there’s been a devaluing of those shots. And I think that not all three-point shots are created equal. I think people really seeing how dynamic [DeRozan] is I’d rather take two points than no points, you know?”