Joakim Noah still emotionally distraught over Chicago Bulls trading Luol Deng

The ramifications of the Chicago Bulls trad of Luol Deng earlier this week goes beyond the standard salary cap relief, avoiding the luxury tax and addition of draft picks as Bulls center, Joakim Noah is still visibly upset over losing his teammate and friend to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Noah was so upset that the normally loquacious Noah declined all media requests for interviews following Tuesday night’s win over the Phoenix Suns and again today after practice, which he missed as a result of an illness.

He is expected to play Friday vs. the Milwaukee Bucks and head coach Tom Thibodeau is expecting Noah to get over the loss of his friend and teammate.

"“Jo has been around, he can handle things,” Thibodeau said. “Luol is not the first player that was ever traded from the Chicago Bulls. It’s the same thing when we get a new player, we always embrace whoever that new player is. That’s the way it is. We just focus on our team and improvement.”"

Noah is averaging 11 points per game, 10.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks this season for the Bulls in what has been a trying year for the 15-18 Bulls who lost Derrick Rose to injury after he had only played in 10 games and now the trading of Deng.