MILWAUKEE — Chicago Bulls forward Patrick Williams will miss at least the next week as the team waits for inflammation in his surgically repaired foot to calm down, coach Billy Donovan said Wednesday.
Williams was limited to 43 games last season before undergoing season-ending surgery on his foot in February. He first appeared on this season’s injury report Monday, but played 31 minutes in a win over the Detroit Pistons in the second game of a back-to-back.
“In the game [Monday], he mentioned he was feeling [discomfort] more at halftime,” Donovan said before the Bulls played the Bucks in Milwaukee. “After the game, he started to feel a lot more pain than he was feeling beforehand.”
Williams remained in Chicago instead of traveling with the team on Wednesday in order to receive more imaging on his foot. Donovan said the team believes the injury occurred because of a front-loaded early schedule after Williams was unable to play five-on-five for most of the summer while rehabbing.
Williams, the No.4 pick in the 2020 draft, is averaging 9.9 points and 5.0 rebounds while starting 15 games for the Bulls this season.
The Bulls will also be without guard Lonzo Ball for at least another week as he continues to rehab a sprained right wrist. Ball attempted some on-court activities during a road trip in New York last week, but he experienced discomfort catching passes and has not been able to make any progress beyond shooting.
Donovan says Ball will attempt to ramp up again next week to see how his wrist responds to increased activity.
“He’s going to need more time on that,” Donovan said. “I do think he’ll do more ballhandling, he’ll do more shooting, he’ll do more. For him to be really ramped up where we can actually see [how he responds] I would say through the weekend and middle of next week, hopefully he’ll be able to do a lot more.”
