CHICAGO — Chicago Bulls leading scorer Zach LaVine is sitting out against the winless Utah Jazz on Monday night because of a right adductor strain.
LaVine, averaging 22.7 points through Chicago’s first six contests, sustained the injury in a 120-112 loss at Brooklyn on Friday when he scored 21 points in 34 minutes. Coach Billy Donovan said the two-time All-Star forward’s symptoms worsened over the weekend and he still felt tightness in his thigh area during the morning shootaround.
“I think they wanted to make sure it didn’t turn into something more significant,” Donovan said, adding that LaVine was day to day.
Utah forward Lauri Markkanen missed a third straight game with back spasms. The depleted Jazz came in as the NBA’s only winless team at 0-6 and already lost promising young forward Taylor Hendricks for the season with a broken right fibula that will require surgery.