Chicago Bulls guard, Dwyane Wade injured his right elbow in the second half in a 98-91 loss against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. After an MRI today, it’s confirmed that Wade will miss the remainder of the regular season in Chicago after spraining and fracturing his elbow.
Wade attempted to play through the injury in the fourth quarter, but was taken out of the game with 8 minutes to go and never returned. “I knew it was something a little bit more, just because of what I heard,” Wade said, “I tried to play through it a little bit, until the pain started getting more excruciating.”
Dwyane Wade in his first season playing in Chicago has had his lowest points per game average (18.6) since his rookie season. Wade hasn’t had his most notable NBA season this year, in fact this was also his first season since his rookie year not being named an NBA All-Star. It’s no doubt that Wade has been on the decline, but he and Jimmy Butler (23.2 PPG) have been apart of the small amount of players who have been consistent for Chicago night in and night out.
The Chicago Bulls have been a disappointment thus far into the season, after signing Wade and 4x All-Star Rajon Rondo. Chicago currently sits at the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference with a 32-36 record and are one game behind the Pistons/Heat (tied) for the final spot in the playoffs.
This will be a major blow to the Bulls season, as only one other player on their roster outside of Wade and Butler are averaging double digits in points (Robin Lopez – 10.0 PPG). It won’t be impossible for the Bulls to make a playoff push, but losing Wade will give them close to no options for another consistent scorer for the 5th worst scoring team in the NBA.
