Bulls' Dwyane Wade To Miss Rest Of Regular Season With 'Small Fracture' In Right Elbow
By Cody Westerlund--
(CBS) Bulls guard Dwyane Wade will miss the rest of the regular season after suffering what the team called a "small fracture" and sprain in his right elbow.
The determination was made after Wade had an MRI on Thursday morning. Wade suffered the injury in Wednesday's loss to the Grizzlies, leaving with 8:35 left in the fourth quarter. Wade acknowledged he heard a "pop" in his elbow after getting tangled up with Zach Randolph battling for a rebound.
Wade believes that sound was a dislocation, which went back in but not before leading to a fractured bone and "some ligament damage," he said.
"It wasn't the worse-case scenario," Wade said Thursday. "Not a good scenario, but kind of what I thought. I told them that I heard a 'pop, pop,' and I kind of said that (Wednesday night), and it was pretty much a dislocation at the time, and it went back in, so kind of dealing with the aftermath of what that looks like. This is what it looks like.''
Wade won't need surgery on it, he said, and he will return for the playoffs if he's medically cleared and the Bulls make it. Chicago (32-36) is currently 10th in the East, one game out of the final playoff spot.
"Hopefully there's more life after that," Wade said.
The 35-year-old Wade is Chicago's second-leading scorer, averaging 18.6 points on a career-low 43.4 percent shooting. He's played in 57 games and -- save for resting a few games and suffering from an illness -- had been having a healthy season.
It's possible Wade has played his last game as a Bull. Wade holds a $23.8-million player option for the 2017-'18 season and is undecided on whether he'll exercise it.
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. He's also the co-host of the @LockedOnBulls podcast, which you can subscribe to on iTunes and Stitcher. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
