Chicago Bulls: Kris Dunn to miss 2-4 weeks following injury

In what was his best game of the preseason, Chicago Bulls point guard Kris Dunn sustained a finger injury that will sideline him for the next few weeks.

Chicago Bulls guard Kris Dunn was selected at the No. 5 spot by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2016 NBA Draft. Highly regarded as a solid defensive player coming out of college, he lived up to that billing for the most part.

The dimensions of his game that left a lot to be desired during his rookie season were scoring and outside shooting. In 78 appearances for the Timberwolves last season (including seven starts), Dunn’s averages included 3.8 points and 2.4 assists per contest on 38 percent shooting overall and 29 percent from 3-point range.

In spite of those underwhelming numbers, the Bulls were high on Dunn a year ago and managed to acquire him in the draft-night trade for Jimmy Butler. Considering the point guard position was a revolving door last season, third-year coach Fred Hoiberg is definitely looking for consistency from this spot.

With Cameron Payne on the shelf for awhile after undergoing foot surgery, Dunn has been battling Jerian Grant for minutes at the lead guard slot and it has been an interesting battle to watch, to say the least. In Chicago’s first preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans, it was pretty much a standoff between the two players.

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Dunn finished the game with 11 points (on 5-for-8 shooting) and three assists, while Grant scored 11 points to go along with nine dimes. The next night against the Dallas Mavericks, neither player had a great night, as they combined to score seven points, with Dunn contributing just two of those points on 1-for-9 shooting.

Although the consensus was Grant was starting to gain an inside edge for the coveted spot in the starting lineup, Dunn went out and had yet another solid game in the Bulls’ 114-101 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.

In just 16 minutes of action, Dunn scored 11 points on an efficient 5-for-7 shooting from the field to go along with four assists. Additionally, he buried his only attempt from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Grant finished the night with two points while missing on five of his six attempts.

Finally outplaying his counterpart, it appeared Dunn was on his way to making life a bit difficult for Hoiberg in regards to who would be selected as the starting point guard for the regular season. Unfortunately, there was a bit of bad news as well.

Dunn suffered an open dislocation of his left index finger as he attempted to block a dunk with just under nine minutes left in the game.

"“Kris was unbelievable tonight,” Hoiberg told Chicago.CBSLocal.com. “He really went out there and was a ball hawk on defense, he was getting into the paint, making plays. His shot looked really good on that three he hit on the right wing. He really looked comfortable out there tonight. It’s unfortunate (the injury) happened.”"

Depending on the extent of the injury, Dunn could be out between 2-4 weeks.

What does this recent setback mean for him and the Bulls?

Well, for starters, Dunn becomes the fourth player on the roster that will miss valuable time on the court due to an injury — not really a positive being that the front office was counting on its younger players to develop chemistry early in Year 1 of the rebuild.

Secondly, Grant will more than likely be named as the starter in the season opener against the Toronto Raptors on Oct. 19. Last, but certainly not least, Dunn will have to play catchup more or less when he does return.

For those of you who may be tempted to think missing time before the season starts isn’t significant, it is important to remember Denzel Valentine sustained an ankle injury that forced him to miss training camp last season, which in turn, set the course for an up-and-down rookie campaign.

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Perhaps Dunn does win the starting job down the line, but this injury certainly puts him at a slight disadvantage for the time being.