The Chicago Bulls are in the middle of a complete rebuild for the franchise as they hope to return to their winning ways. The 2017-18 season didn’t get off to a great start when Bobby Portis punched teammate just days before the season started.
Since that incident, Portis has returned to the team from his eight-game suspension and has actually played well. Meanwhile, Mirotic was in the hospital dealing with bone fractures and a concussion.
Mirotic returned to the team for practice on Monday afternoon but things were awkward.
Nikola Mirotic is around his #Bulls teammates again at practice, but still avoiding Bobby Portis. And, this isn't awkward? Portis says no. @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/xbFDSKihrH
— Krista Ruch (@KristaCBS2) November 13, 2017
According to several reports, the two avoided eachother and didn’t even make eye-contact as the two haven’t talked since the incident. But with the two at practice together one has to wonder what the hell is going to happen moving forward?
Mirotic said he can’t co-exist with Portis and gave the team an ultimatum to trade him. The forward can’t be traded until mid-January due to a clause in his contract.
On Monday, VP of Basketball Operations John Paxson commented on the situation and it appears the Bulls aren’t in a hurry to trade Mirotic or Portis.
Here’s what he said via Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times:
“Like I said last week, I’m not going to really talk about anything that’s been asked of us,’’ Paxson said. “The reality is that you just can’t move a guy for the sake of moving him. We’re going to have to do what’s in our best interests, first and foremost. That’s how we’re going about it day-to-day. Both Niko and Bobby are on our roster right now. And Niko’s getting cleared to do more and more. This obviously is coming to a position where it’s going to have to be resolved between the two.’’
Paxson also said he wants Mirotic to start coming around more and being part of the team but for obvious reasons that’s not the easiest thing to do.
With Mirotic there today we will see how this impacts the Bulls moving forward.
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