Bulls’ Kris Dunn injured on monster dunk by Bucks rookie Sterling Brown

Kris Dunn’s Chicago Bulls career is not starting off how he had likely hoped.

Kris Dunn, recently acquired in the Jimmy Butler deal, left Friday night’s preseason game after suffering an injury while defending a powerful dunk from Bucks second-rounder Sterling Brown.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Brown faked out his defender behind the arc, drove baseline and rose up for a ferocious tomahawk dunk.

Dunn went up to defend the shot and Brown contorted around the outstretched arm, causing Dunn to collide with teammate David Nwaba. Dunn left the game with an injury and did not return.

It’s sad news for Dunn and Bulls fans. Dunn helped spur the Bulls offense to an early lead over Milwaukee behind his 5-for-7 shooting.

The much-maligned former Minnesota Timberwolves guard was acquired by the Bulls on draft night for Jimmy Butler along with Zach Lavine and the 7th overall pick (Lauri Markkanen). At the time, the trade was considered a coup for Minnesota.

Dunn had a horrendous rookie year after much hype about his NBA readiness. Dunn scored less than 4 points on over 17 minutes per game.

The Bulls were hoping to unlock the high upside that was promised when the Timberwolves selected Dunn before the likes of Buddy Hield, Jamal Murray and Thon Maker.

It’s a long season and the Bulls won’t be competing for the foreseeable future, so it’s not the end of the world. But the team would likely prefer it if one-third of their big trade package didn’t get injured on an impossible-to-defend play.

Next: 10 Biggest NBA Draft Mistakes of All-Time

As for his team, the Bulls would go on to win the game against Brown’s Bucks behind lights-out shooting from deep.

If anything can be taken away from the win, it’s that the old Bulls are long-gone and Dunn might just be a useful piece in the future.