Bulls' Derrick Rose Has Orbital Fracture, To Have Surgery Wednesday
(CBS) Bulls point guard Derrick Rose suffered a left orbital fracture in Tuesday's season-opening practice and will have surgery Wednesday, the team announced.
It's unclear how long Rose will be out, with the Bulls saying they should know more after Wednesday's procedure. Rose took an elbow in practice and left early to go to Rush University Medical Center for evaluation before the determination was made on the orbital fracture, which is commonly known as an eye socket fracture.
Rose has played in just 100 regular-season games over the past four years for Chicago, as he's undergone three knee surgeries and also suffered from more minor injuries to his hamstring and ankles.
Rose's injury happened midway through practice, teammate Jimmy Butler said, adding he thought it was when Rose drove baseline and "made a pretty athletic play." It marked the first practice of Chicago's season and in the era of new coach Fred Hoiberg.
Bulls forward Taj Gibson thought he might have been the one who hit Rose, though he wasn't sure.
"He got a little elbow," Gibson said earlier in the day, before news of the fracture broke. "We don't know the severity of it, but hopefully he'll be fine. I know he's tough, but it was one of those plays, especially in practice, where everybody's going hard. It's just tough.
"I don't know (who got him). It might have been me. It was just one of those plays where everybody's going so hard, and it's real physical out there. Hopefully he'll be OK."
The Bulls had initially scheduled two practices for Tuesday, but Hoiberg cancelled the evening sessions after the morning session went about 2 hours and 15 minutes.
The timeline for a return from an orbital bone fracture in recent NBA history varies greatly. In February 2014, Bucks big man Larry Sanders suffered an orbital bone fracture and was initially ruled out for six weeks. He didn't play the rest of the season.
In early February of last season, Mavericks point guard Rajon Rondo suffered an orbital bone fracture as well and missed about two weeks.
