Bulls’ Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic involved in ‘serious altercation’ after practice

The Bulls’ Nikola Mirotic is in the hospital following a “serious altercation” with forward Bobby Portis at practice.

Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic is out indefinitely following a serious altercation with fellow forward Bobby Portis.

According to The Vertical’s Shams Charania, Mirotic is currently in a Chicago-area hospital after getting into a physical altercation with Portis at practice. When practice came to a close on Tuesday, both Mirotic and Portis engaged in a shoving match, which then turned to Portis throwing “cheap shots” at Mirotic.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Mirotic suffered a fractured bone in his face, and he had to be rushed to the emergency room.

This isn’t the first time NBA players have tussled with teammates during practice. Earlier this year, former NBA star Kenyon Martin went on FOX Sports Radio and told stories about some brutal practice fights among teammates. There was the time when Nene nearly strangled Steve Blake, Kendall Gill choking out Jim Mcllvaine, and the kicker, when Martin himself described the time he hit Nene with a “one-hitter-quitter” during his first season with the Denver Nuggets.

If you don’t know what the phrase means, it pretty much speaks for itself.

“Yeah, it was a one-hitter-quitter,” Martin told Fox Sports’ Chris Broussard on his In the Zone podcast. “They thought that I broke his orbital bone.”

So, yes, when you hear players describe the practice as “harder than the games,” they’re pretty much telling the truth. Players are competing with each other, and sometimes, those competitions do turn into blows, some harmless while others are a little more severe.

The altercation between Mirotic and Portis can be classified in the former since the Bulls are ruling Mirotic out for the “foreseeable future.”

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As for Portis, we suspect that he won’t be suiting up for opening night either.