Injury Bug Bites Again as Chicago Bulls Lose Tre Jones for Multiple Weeks

The Chicago Bulls will be without Tre Jones for at least two weeks.

On Friday afternoon, the team officially announced that Jones has suffered a hamstring strain. The guard will have to be re-evaluated in two weeks, which means Jones will likely need additional time to work his way back onto the court.

The news comes following the Bulls' surprising win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night. Jones played an essential role in that performance, closing things out for head coach Billy Donovan and sinking the biggest bucket of the night. With Chicago down 115-114, Jones retrieved an inbound before faking the hand off to Coby White and driving straight to the rim for the go-ahead finish against Rudy Gobert.

Really awesome ATO here.

Tre Jones sells the pass perfectly before breaking to the rim. Caps it off with excellent clutch finish.

He’s been so good this year.
pic.twitter.com/fEJDKPPsnV
— Elias Schuster (@Schuster_Elias) January 23, 2026

The clutch bucket was yet another reminder of how strong a season Jones has put together. He's averaged 12.4 points, 5.8 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.3 steals over his 38 games this season. Jones has also shot a career-high 55.0 percent from the field and has filled in multiple times for an injured Bull in the starting lineup.

Indeed, there has arguably been no player Donovan has trusted more in the face of adversity this season. And Jones has surely rewarded him for it. The guard's high-IQ passing, downhill scoring, and transition speed have fit into the Bulls' offense flawlessly. Likewise, he has been one of the team's more consistently aggressive defenders despite being undersized at six-foot-one. His 50 steals lead the team.

Jones has played so well that his name has even started to pop up in trade rumors. While Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu have been the focal point for most of the season, Jones has started to feel like an equally logical choice for guard-needy contenders. This has become particularly true after signing an extremely cost-effective deal this past offseason. Hitting unrestricted free agency, the Bulls moved Lonzo Ball in an effort to open up more playing time for the guard on a three-year, $21.0 million deal.

With that in mind, it's hard not to wonder how this news could impact potential trade interest in Jones. While he should be able to return near or after the All-Star break, hamstring injuries can be tricky. Might teams be a little less hesitant to pursue him, knowing he will be working his way back from a soft tissue injury?

There is also a good chance that losing Jones makes a legitimate difference in the win-loss column. He has proven surprisingly important to this team all year long, especially in crunch time. If the Bulls do begin to stack some losses without him, the chances of them making more noise at the deadline likely increase.

The Bulls were finally on the brink of getting most of their guys back with Josh Giddey returning from his own hamstring strain this week. Alas, they have now lost another key contributor for multiple weeks, and there is no question that it could lead to quite the domino effect.