Chicago Bulls: WCJ can’t argue with the ‘injury prone’ label

Yet another bad bit of injury news surfaced for the former Duke Blue Devil and the third-year Chicago Bulls center Wendell Carter Jr. in the middle of this week. WCJ will reportedly be re-evaluated in four weeks for a lower-body injury issue that has caused him to miss the last few games for first-year head coach Billy Donovan and this lapsing Bulls team.

The last game that WCJ played in was the Bulls Jan. 18 win at home at the United Center over the Houston Rockets, by the final score of 125-120. He has now missed specifically the last three games, two of which have resulted in losses for the Bulls.

And it doesn’t sound like WCJ is neither happy about the injury, nor the “injury prone” label that he’s getting in the public eye of late.

On the matter of getting that injury prone label, WCJ opened up on his thoughts.

"I hate the label of being injury prone or always injured and things so that gets kinda tough, but at the same time, as I look inside the business, with the people that are actually a part of this business they understand."

While he’s not wrong that it’s definitely not always fair to get labeled this way, especially this early in a career, the counters from the Bulls fan base are also fair. The Bulls fan base has yet to see WCJ come anywhere close to getting through a full season without a plethora of injury issues.

What WCJ did with the Chicago Bulls in the past

During the shortened 2019-20 regular season, WCJ played in one less game than he did during his rookie campaign. Granted the shortened 2019-20 regular season only saw the Bulls play in 65 games prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic-induced pause. That also ended the Bulls season under the direction of former head coach Jim Boylen, with a record of 22-43.

Moreover, WCJ remained mostly healthy right out of the gates this season. But that trend didn’t last all that long. It now looks like he’s going to miss half of January, and potentially at least half of the games next month.

WCJ also missed roughly half of his rookie campaign due to nagging injury issues.

So far during the 2020-21 regular season, WCJ has played in 14 games with the Bulls (all of which he’s started in), averaging around 27 minutes on the floor per game. And he’s averaged 12.8 points per game, 8.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.6 blocks. WCJ shot 53.3 percent from the field, 26.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 72.6 percent from the free-throw line.

After their Jan. 25 loss at home at the United Center at the hands of the Boston Celtics, the Bulls now hold a record of 7-10. They also hold a two-game losing streak dating back to their Jan. 23 home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Bulls were supposed to face the Memphis Grizzlies on the night of Jan. 27, but that game was pushed back due to COVID-19 related issues. Their next game up now will come against the Portland Trail Blazers at home on Jan. 30.