Patrick Williams injury: Bulls forward to miss 4-6 months after tearing ligaments in wrist

After falling to the New York Knicks in gut-wrenching fashion on Thursday evening, the Chicago Bulls obtained some dangerous information on Friday afternoon relating to an damage to second-year ahead Patrick Williams. The No. 4 choose within the 2020 NBA Draft took a tough fall on a dunk try within the third quarter of that recreation in opposition to New York and did not return. 

After the sport, Bulls coach Billy Donovan mentioned Williams had suffered a wrist damage however did not know something past that. On Friday, the team announced that Williams might be out 4-6 months because of torn ligaments in his wrist that may require surgical procedure. A report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski indicated that Williams additionally suffered a perilunate dislocation. 

Right here is the play that the damage occurred, through which Knicks huge man Mitchell Robinson was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul after evaluation:

Williams laid on the bottom for a bit earlier than he was in a position to rise up and go away the ground. He instantly went again to the locker room and was dominated out for the rest of the sport shortly after. When requested concerning the Flagrant 1 foul name on Robinson that resulted in Williams’ damage, Donovan mentioned he didn’t think Robinson had any intention of harm on the play.

Throughout Friday morning’s apply, Nikola Vucevic, who begins alongside Williams within the frontcourt for the Bulls, mirrored on the damage.

“Patrick is a giant a part of what we do,” Vucevic said. “We’ll miss him quite a bit, particularly defensively.”

The previous Florida State product has began in each recreation he is performed for the Bulls since coming into the league final season, and he is begun to turn into an integral piece on the defensive aspect of the ball. Towards the Knicks, Williams was tasked with guarding All-Star ahead Julius Randle, and he did an admirable job, holding Randle to only two factors within the first half on 1-of-4 capturing from the sector. When Williams went down within the third quarter, it pressured the Bulls to go small down the stretch, sticking guards Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso on the 6-8 ahead with lower than superb outcomes. 

Randle was in a position to get to the foul line extra within the second half, as Caruso and Ball have been attempting to compensate for the mismatch. Going ahead, this might show to be a major downside for a Chicago staff that was already missing in measurement previous to the damage to Williams.