In a loss for the Chicago Bulls to the Milwaukee Bucks last week, there was a play that will be remembered for a long time for fans in the Windy City when shooting guard Grayson Allen brought down point guard Alex Caruso out of mid-air. That play resulted in Caruso fracturing his wrist and subsequently getting surgery.
Caruso is now out for at least six or eight weeks as he recovers from yet another injury issue this season. He has now suffered through a hamstring injury, a stint in the league’s health and safety protocol, and this wrist fracture just in the last six weeks alone.
Meanwhile, the league did hand out a one-game suspension as a punishment to Allen resulting from this dirty foul on Caruso. Allen was also handed a flagrant 2 foul when the play originally happened in this Jan. 21 meeting between the Bulls and Bucks.
While this is the first time that the Bulls, in particular, were tangled up in a controversial situation with Allen, this is definitely not the first time the former Duke Blue Devils star shooting guard was involved in this sort of discussion. Allen has a history of plays like this, which is one of the reasons why there was so much outrage from Bulls fans and the basketball landscape, in general, following this flagrant 2 on Caruso.
Chicago Bulls not the only group that feels like Grayson Allen should’ve received more than one-game suspension from the NBA
There are many that feel Allen should’ve received a lengthier suspension than just one game. According to a report from Marc Stein on Jan. 25, many other teams around the league expected that Allen was going to get a longer suspension than just one game.
Stein himself noted that he felt like Allen deserved at least a three-game suspension. He really included two factors as to why Allen deserved a longer suspension than he received.
The first is the fact that Caruso will be out for a good amount of time as a result of this dirty play from Allen. Stein mentions that should’ve played a bigger role in the calculation that the league office made when determining the length of Allen’s suspension.
And the second reason is the fact that Allen has a history of dirty plays dating back to his days playing for Duke. Most college hoops and NBA fans know the history of Allen all too well. And this foul on Caruso is just Allen’s old habits showing up again.
Allen wound up missing the back end of back-to-back games for the Bucks, which resulted in a win for Milwaukee over the Sacramento Kings on Jan. 22. The next time that Allen and the Bucks will face the Bulls is on March 4 at the United Center.