Guard Coby White appeared to have suffered a serious injury against the Pacers, but tests on Thursday showed it was a right hip injury that could be healed by the weekend.
AJ Mast/AP
The imaging tests on Coby White’s right hip came back clean.
That loud collective sigh of relief was the entire Bulls organization.
It wasn’t all good news on Thursday, however, as the starting point guard was still forced to miss his first game of the season with the injury.
Still, as bad as it looked when Indiana’s Pascal Siakam landed on White and bent his leg back behind him from the force in Wednesday’s win, it could have been much worse.
“He is dealing with some discomfort and soreness there so it’s going to be how quickly and soon he can get over that,” coach Billy Donovan said of White’s possible return. “It’s probably going to be when he can start to feel comfortable to get back to playing.”
Not the only part of White’s game that he’s going to have to work on getting comfortable with.
Before having his perfect attendance ruined, White came into the night against the Clippers 7th in the league in minutes played per game with 36.7.
His previous career high was 31.2 minutes per game back in the 2020-21 season, and last year it was a career-low 23.4 minutes per game.
White, however, has emerged as a Most Improved Player of the Year candidate, and with that has come a much more responsibility and playing time.
Donovan admitted that he’s seen some fatigue from White at times even though the former North Carolina product would never admit to it.
“I think for Coby it’s been an eye-opening experience in a lot of ways,” Donovan said. “One is he’s got an incredible threshold to fight through things, whether it’s physical or mental things, he’s got a lot of resiliency. But I think coming into the season, with what his role was the previous year, I don’t know if he would have ever anticipated the number of minutes he’s gotten this year.
“I do think that what he’s gone through this year it will probably open up his mind to even train differently this summer. I think that’s part of his evolution as a player. Those elite players, they have to do that night in and night out on both ends of the floor.”
What White has working in his favor is a veteran like DeMar DeRozan, who currently leads the NBA in minutes per game, in house to bounce concerns and questions off of.
That’s why Donovan felt good about White’s continued trajectory.
“When you go through it like he has, I’m sure he’s looking at his summer and saying, ‘Wow, where I’m at now, what would I have done differently, and how do I actually get better through this?’ “ Donovan added. “I think he’ll actually learn from it.”
Rookie blues
Julian Phillips did his best to try and play through right foot soreness against the Pacers, but definitely didn’t look right after 11 scoreless minutes of work.
The rookie was held out of the Clippers game, with the hope that he’ll be ready to return on Saturday.
The other rookie
Onuralp Bitim stayed in his role as the sixth man on Thursday, as the rookie has impressed Donovan with his fearlessness.
While the former Turkish League standout is still adjusting to the speed and pace of the NBA, his coach has liked what he’s seen.
“The one thing I will say is the environments he’s come from and he’s played in overseas, they’ve been very hostile, very competitive, and a high level of basketball,” Donovan said. “I would say he’s not afraid of the moment, but he needs experience.”