On Monday, Chicago Bulls guard Denzel Valentine posted a picture of himself on Instagram wearing a walking boot on his left foot.
After a stellar finish over last summer where he hit the game-tying and game-winning shots in the Las Vegas Summer League title game for the Chicago Bulls, rookie Denzel Valentine wasn’t seen much during his first NBA season.
On Monday however, he was seen on Instagram posting a picture just like the rest of us, but what was in that photo made it worth noting.
Valentine was seen wearing a walking boot on his left foot.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUIu2g8F3G6/?hl=en
Before anyone starts speculating, Valentine wasn’t playing more down the stretch of the season and in the postseason because of his defensive performance. (At least that’s what Fred Hoiberg mentioned when it came to Valentine cracking the rotation.)
After missing eight straight games Jan. 21-Feb. 6, Valentine played at least 4:43 in every game for the rest of the season, including five games where he played 30+ minutes in Hoiberg’s rotation. Valentine only played a shade over six minutes in the first five games of the Bulls’ first-round loss to the Boston Celtics before playing 15:43 in the blowout loss during Game 6.
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The team hasn’t commented on Valentine’s status and there was no mention of Valentine being injured at the season-ending press conference for Bulls vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman, so it could just be a minor training injury during some offseason workouts.
There’s no official word on Valentine’s foot/ankle, although he did sprain that same ankle in the boot during the preseason and missed a couple of weeks back in early October.
Being that the Bulls don’t exactly have the best injury history in the past and Valentine had injury concerns coming out of Michigan State last year (albeit, it was his knees that were the concern), it’s normal to be hesitant in this being a minor injury.
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Still, it’s likely a good sign that the team or Valentine himself haven’t said anything about it for the time being.
UPDATE: Valentine had scope on ankle, 3-4 weeks of rehab coming
According to the Chicago Tribune‘s K.C. Johnson, Valentine did have a scope done on the ankle that he sprained twice during this past season.
Denzel Valentine had scope of left ankle he sprained twice during season and faces 3-4 weeks of rehab. Expected to be back for summer lge.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) May 17, 2017
“Expected to be back for summer league”, meaning that he’ll back to help the Bulls go for back-to-back titles in Vegas?