Bulls Could Be Without Alex Caruso (Ankle) Against Heat

Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso suffered a “significant” left ankle sprain during the third quarter of Wednesday night’s 131-116 win over the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament.

Caruso, 30, did not return. He finished with six points on two 3-pointers and added two rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes of action. The seven-year veteran’s injury puts his availability in doubt.

Bulls center Andre Drummond stepped on Caruso’s right foot in the third at center court. After the win, Caruso said that while trying to catch himself, he aggravated a left foot issue that had bothered him toward the end of the regular season.

“[Alex Caruso] re-aggravated the same left ankle that’s been bothering him for quite some time now, I think his status for tomorrow is very much in question.”@ShamsCharania updates on Alex Caruso’s injury pic.twitter.com/ow3MWYy6IT

— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) April 18, 2024

“It was the same one I’d been dealing with the last couple weeks of the season that we’d been managing and figuring out,” Caruso said of the injury.

“I tried to tape it up, take some more time when I got out there and I was kind of ineffective, so it was probably better to have some of those guys finish the game. And they did a great job.”

As for his current status, the Texas A&M product might play through the injury.

“I do until I can’t,” Caruso said about whether he expects to play Friday. “We’ll see how it goes the next couple days, but my mindset would be to play until my body tells me I can’t.”

Chicago Bulls’ Alex Caruso (left ankle sprain) questionable for play-in tournament game at Miami Heat

Bulls coach Billy Donovan decided to take Caruso out during the third quarter after seeing him “hobble” after Drummond stepped on his foot.

“To close the second quarter he said to me, ‘Listen I’m going to try to go here, and I’ll let you know,’” Donovan said. “I thought he was a little bit hobbled, and I grabbed him before the third started and he said, ‘Let me give it just a little more try.’

“I just didn’t like the way he [was moving]. He didn’t ask to come out, but I don’t think he felt like he could move.’”

Alex Caruso suffered an apparent injury after this collision with Andre Drummond.

He has yet to return to the game. pic.twitter.com/5Uc4c0WiKk

— ESPN (@espn) April 18, 2024

On Friday, the Bulls can avenge their loss from last year’s play-in game, which was also in Miami. Chicago led by three points with three minutes remaining before the Heat ended the game on a 15-1 run.

“I remember that plane ride back home vividly, everybody was just frustrated,” Bulls guard DeMar DeRozan said after Wednesday’s victory.

“That feeling sucked. I know for me that was one thing that was on my mind once I realized we were going back to Miami, not to have that same feeling.”

A win at Miami would put the Bulls back in the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2022, when they lost a first-round series 4-1 to the Milwaukee Bucks. If they beat the Heat, the Bulls would face the top-seeded Boston Celtics on Sunday at TD Garden.