Bobby Portis suspended eight games by the Bulls following Mirotic punch
By Alex Wolfe
The Bulls forward will sit out the first eight games after sending his teammate to the hospital.
In one of the more… let’s just say, “interesting” stories of this young NBA season, Bulls forward Bobby Portis apparently clocked teammate Nikola Mirotic in the face following a heated practice yesterday. The next question was, what will become of Portis?
We now have an answer, courtesy of Shams Chanaria at The Vertical:
"Chicago Bulls forward Bobby Portis has been suspended eight games by the team for his role in a practice altercation with Nikola Mirotic that resulted in Mirotic being hospitalized and sidelined indefinitely.…The Bulls announced Wednesday that Mirotic suffered maxillary fractures and a concussion and will likely undergo surgery. He is expected to be out for the foreseeable future, league sources said."
There’s not really much precedent as far as suspensions for misconduct on the practice court go, but when you consider that Latrell Sprewell once got 68 games for choking head coach P.J. Carlesimo at practice (in a much different era of the NBA), maybe Portis got off easy here.
Meanwhile, a little research shows that Mirotic should probably be out about a month and a half, according to Medscape. Their recommended recovery period from a facial fracture is 41 days, although all cases are different. NFL receiver Anquan Boldin once came back from a facial fracture in two weeks, so anything is possible!
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With Portis suspended and Mirotic out for a while, the Bulls now find themselves remarkably thin at the power forward and center spots to begin the season. Rookie Lauri Markkanen will probably draw the start at power forward against the Raptors on Thursday night, Robin Lopez will start at center and Christiano Felicio will stay plenty busy as basically the only backup big on the Bulls’ roster for the moment.