Chicago Bulls: Otto Porter Jr. out tonight vs. Lakers?

It will be on the night of Jan. 23 that first-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls have the opportunity to extend their winning streak to four games. As they return home to the United Center in Chicago, the Bulls are set to take on the defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers this weekend.

But Donovan and the Bulls will be without one of their key role players against the Lakers. The veteran 6-foot-8 and 200 pound small forward Otto Porter Jr. will be out for the Lakers game reportedly due to load management reasons.

OPJ had recently missed some time due to a back injury, and it sounds like the Bulls want to keep him healthy moving forward. Load management in back-to-back games will be nothing out of the usual for players like OPJ that had an abundance of injury issues in recent years.

The Bulls are healthier in their wing rotation otherwise. They’ve been getting minutes to rookie forward Patrick Williams, veteran shooting guard Garrett Temple, shooting guard/wing Denzel Valentine, etc., on the wing otherwise. The Bulls also got the likes of the third-year former Boise State Broncos small forward Chandler Hutchison back in the rotation following a recovery from COVID-19 entering the weekend.

What do the Chicago Bulls do in his absence

While Hutch didn’t get any minutes in the Bulls win in the first leg of this set of back-to-back games on Jan. 22, he could get more playing time against the Lakers on this night. In fact, Hutch has only played in four games for the Bulls so far this season (starting in none of them), while averaging around 13 minutes on the floor per game.

In those four games played so far this season, Hutch averaged 3.3 points per game, 4.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.8 steals, and no blocks. And he shot 31.3 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, and is perfect on just a few attempts from the free-throw line.

What the Bulls will be missing in OPJ is a key wing/sixth man for this team that has started in six of the 13 games he’s played in thus far. He’s averaged 12.5 points per game, 6.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.1 blocks. OPJ shot 47.5 percent from the field, 41.1 percent from beyond the arc, and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line.

Despite having a pretty healthy rotation outside of missing OPJ in this big test against the Lakers at home, the Bulls still have a lot do deal with in taking on the defending champs in a back end of back-to-back games. In the first leg, the Bulls took care of business in comfortable fashion by defeating the Charlotte Hornets on the road on Jan. 22. That win over the Hornets came by the final score of 123-110.

OPJ and the Bulls hold a record of 7-8 following their win over the Hornets on Jan. 22. They come into this meeting with the Lakers with a three-game winning streak. Meanwhile, the Lakers come in with a record of 12-4.