Chicago Bulls Injury Report: Anfernee Simons Update, Nick Richards Downgraded

The injuries just keep coming for the Chicago Bulls.

Ahead of Sunday night's meeting with the New York Knicks, the Bulls officially ruled out Anfernee Simons. The sharpshooting guard was forced to leave Saturday's frontend of the back-to-back after 13 minutes of action due to a wrist injury. The Bulls currently have it listed on the official report as a sprain, though the severity remains unknown.

Acquired at the trade deadline as part of the Nikola Vucevic trade, Simons experienced a relatively smooth transition. His scoring ability filled an immediate need for this dismantled Bulls team, as he managed to drop at least 20+ points in three of his first five games. Nonetheless, as he said early this week in practice, the individual scoring numbers mean very little when the team is struggling to mesh as a whole.

"I've had a couple good scoring games, but if we're not seeing constant improvement, that's the most important things. It really doesn't matter if I'm scoring 20 points a night. I feel like I've been able to do that for a couple good years now, and knowing it's much deeper than that," Simons said on Friday.

The Bulls have dropped a season-high eight games in a row and have yet to earn their first post-trade-deadline win. All things considered, Simons' absence will only make snapping this losing streak a steeper uphill battle for the Bulls.

The Bulls also had to watch Simons leave the game only hours after they announced that Jaden Ivey would be sidelined for at least the next two weeks. The guard – who recorded a surprising DNP-CD on Thursday – stated that he was experiencing some knee soreness. Further testing seemingly gave the Bulls reason to believe resting the soon-to-be restricted free agent was necessary.

On the bright side, the door has likely swung open for Rob Dillingham to see considerably more playing time. The 21-year-old former lottery pick was acquired from Minnesota in the Ayo Dosunmu trade and is one of the Bulls' only recent additions who is under contract next season. Billy Donovan mentioned after the team's Saturday night loss that he wanted to find more minutes for the shifty and creative guard, and a clear opportunity has now presented itself.

Lastly, Nick Richards was downgraded this morning with foot soreness. The only traditional center on this current roster, losing him for any amount of time would make life considerably harder on Chicago. Tonight, in particular, would be a bad matchup to be without his size. While the Knicks may not be the most physically imposing team, they do sit Top 5 in rebounding percentage and have several players who can attack the paint.

With that said, some good news for the Bulls is that the Knicks have already ruled out Mitchell Robinson for injury management purposes. An imposing seven-footer, dodging him would make a potential Richards absence hurt less.

Chicago Bulls Injury Report

Patrick Williams – PROBABLE (hand)
Jaden Ivey – OUT (knee)
Anfernee Simons – OUT (wrist)
Zach Collins – OUT FOR SEASON (toe)
Noa Essengue – OUT FOR SEASON (shoulder(

New York Knicks Injury Report

Miles McBride – OUT (core)
Mitchell Robinson – OUT (ankle)