Schuster: Deng Has Torn Ligament In Wrist, Won't Have Surgery
By David Schuster-
(CBS) There was some good but mostly bad news on Tuesday from the Berto Center.
The Bulls confirmed that Luol Deng did indeed suffer a torn ligament in his left wrist but Deng said he is opting not to have surgery.
Where does that leave his status? That's undetermined at this time but instead of being day-to-day, the small forward is week-to-week.
Deng had the exact same injury on his shooting right hand back in 2005. At that time he decided to have surgery with cost him the rest of the season. This time, with the injury occurring on his non-shooting left wrist, Deng has opted to go the non surgical route.
"You know, we have a very good chance of doing something special this season and I feel like without the surgery I'll be fine," Deng said. "I just know what I can do with it and what I can't do. And the fact that I think I will still be effective out there."
There is a precedence with playing with this injury. Kobe Bryant was diagnosed with a torn ligament in his shooting wrist before this season started and he's having another MVP caliber season.
"It's more of a pain tolerance issue and hopefully he can back as soon as he can," head coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Deng said the pain and swelling have gone down over the last few days, which is encouraging, but don't look to see him in a game for likely 2-3 weeks -- and that's a conservative guess.
