The Chicago Bulls‘ challenging season continues.
Among the trades and directional uncertainty, the Bulls have been able to rely on Ayo Dosunmu. Their steady contributor brings consistent defense and a transition attack the team relies on to jumpstart their offense.
But no more. On Sunday morning, the team announced that Dosunmu would be undergoing a surgical procedure on his left shoulder, ending his season early.
Dosunmu is scheduled for his procedure on Wednesday morning. His rehab and recovery process projects to take four-to-six months, but he feels confident he will be back for the start of training camp ahead of the 2025-26 season.
“The MRI showed that it was a previous, an old fracture. I don’t know the exact date, but maybe the last year, year-and-a-half I would say,” Dosunmu said.
“I don’t know where it started at, but I do remember my shoulder go numb and come out in the back. I do remember that numerous times, but I can’t tell you the exact date.”
The injury seems to be a unique one. Shoulder subluxation typically refers to partial dislocation of the shoulder joint from the socket. Dosunmu’s is a result of a fracture in the back of his shoulder.
“What I know from talking to the doctors is it’s a fracture in the back of the shoulder,” Dosunmu told reporters. “He said it’s very rare because most athletes have trouble in the front of their shoulder. Mine is in the back.”
Dosunmu has been struggling with pain and discomfort in his shoulder for some time now. Though he tried to play through it, including his return game against the Toronto Raptors after missing the previous three games, it was something that would eventually need surgery, and he opted to get it done to give himself a chance to play at the start of next season.
“The first five times it normally happened the next day or two (the paint) would go away like a shoulder stinger,” he said. “Then previously in New York it happened and the pain stayed. I can lift my arm but there was pain. There was pain pretty much any movement with my left hand. When I was sleeping it was pain. It was tolerable pain but pain that had to be addressed.”
“In talking to the doctors, over time eventually I would have to have this surgery, so I technically could have played through the season but it would have been a tick for tack thing,” he went on. “It would go in and out, in and out. You never knew when the shoulder was going to pop out, so I thought it was the best to fix it.”
It’s still to be determined how long the rehab will take — there will be more clarity following the procedure — but Dosunmu thinks it will be at least six months before he’s a full go.
Dosunmu finishes his fourth season having played just 46 games, with a career-highs across the board: 12.3 points per game, 3.5 rebounds per game, 4.5 assists per game. Though he struggled shooting the ball early on in the year, he brought his field goal percentage up to 49.2 percent, his three-point percentage to 32.8 percent and his free throw percentage to 78.5 percent.
As he enters his first ever surgery, he’s putting his best foot forward as he embarks on his longest recovery process.
“It excites me,” Dosunmu said. “I thrive in situations like that. I thrive in adversity, proving people wrong wherever the doubters may be. That’s something I always thrived in, always seemed to enjoy that type of competition. I’m excited for the rehab process, like I said taking it one day at a time. Just looking at it as a blessing in disguise.”
The Bulls are now without Dosunmu long-term but have also missed Patrick Williams (right quad), Nikola Vucevic (calf), and Lonzo Ball (wrist) for an extended run. Josh Giddey (knee) and Kevin Huerter (knee) also joined them on the bench for the Bulls’ 139-117 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.
Injury equals opportunity for other players, and the Bulls’ depth will surely be tested.
