Deng "Week-to-Week" With Wrist Injury

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jan 24, 2012 10:00PM

The injuries just keep mounting for the Bulls this season. While they finally got Derrick Rose back into the line-up after the reigning MVP missed four games due to turf toe, they have now lost their second leading scorer for an extended period of time.

Luol Deng, who injured his wrist in Saturday's game against the Charlotte Bobcats, has been diagnosed with a torn ligament in his left wrist. After downplaying the extent of the injury the past couple days while consulting with doctors, Deng came clean today, admitting, "When it happened, I knew it was something serious."

Deng has been averaging 15.9 points and 7.5 rebounds for the Bulls and had played in all of the team's games until missing Monday night's win against New Jersey.

Rather than opt for surgery, Deng is going to rest the wrist for a couple weeks to see how it responds. Said coach Tom Thibodeau of his starting small forward, "He's going to be out for awhile. It's a pain tolerance thing." The hope is that Deng will be able to return to action in a few weeks and play through the pain. However, a similar injury in his other wrist prematurely ended his rookie campaign after 61 games back in 2005.

Deng's injury is just the latest to strike the team, who has played at full strength just a handful of times this season. Rip Hamilton missed 10 games after suffering a groin pull, while Rose has missed five games with his toe injury. A sprained ankle kept Joakim Noah out of Saturday's game. The injury bug has also spread to the bench, where Rose's back-up C.J. Watson missed nine games due to an elbow injury and Taj Gibson has missed two games and counting with an ankle sprain of his own.

Despite all the casualties this season, the Bulls have shown just how deep a team they are by racking up a league-best 16-3 record.