3 most detrimental absences for the Bulls in January

Detrimental Chicago Bulls absences in January: Alex Caruso

Between a multitude of lower-body injuries and the league’s health and safety protocol, the defensive standout point guard Alex Caruso has missed a lot of time lately for the Bulls. The number of games in a row that Caruso missed of late has now reached the double digits after being absent for the Bulls’ loss to the Nets on Jan. 12.

The last game that Caruso played in for the Bulls was back on Dec. 20 against the Houston Rockets. Since that time, Caruso missed games due to a lingering hamstring injury and the health and safety protocol.

Just as it looked like Caruso was set to return to the rotation for the Bulls last week from the hamstring injury, he entered the protocol. We do know that Caruso will be out for the Bulls in their key Jan. 14 meeting with the Golden State Warriors too.

The hope will be that Caruso can return for the Bulls at some point this weekend or early next week. But we don’t have a certain timeline yet for his return.

It’s becoming clear the more games that Caruso misses for the Bulls how important he is to this backcourt unit in terms of his offensive playmaking, floor spacing, and stellar perimeter defense. He’s a really important part of this team. And the defensive cracks are really showing with players like him, Williams, and Jones out of the rotation due to various reasons.