There won’t be a Chicago Bull in sight when the NBA’s top talent descends upon Indianapolis for All-Star festivities this weekend.
Despite the season-ending injury to Zach LaVine and a third consecutive trade deadline without a move, the Bulls are in the playoff hunt as they head into the All-Star break. But this is the first All-Star weekend since 1980 that won’t include a single Bulls player.
While it has been only four years since a Bulls player wasn’t selected as an All-Star, the team has had a representative in at least one competition — including the Rising Stars, skills challenge, 3-point and slam dunk contests — every year for the past four decades.
The only Chicago player invited to Indianapolis this weekend was Windy City Bulls center Adama Sanogo, who will participate in Sunday’s G League Up Next Game.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan didn’t want to put too much weight on this year’s selections.
“You’re always going to have a group of guys that you can talk about (how they) should be in the All-Star Game,” Donovan said. “And sometimes they’re not and that’s unfortunate. I don’t put any stock into it, good or bad.
“I always want our guys to be recognized because I do think that Coby (White) and DeMar (DeRozan) have had really good years and they played really well. Those guys certainly were more than worthy of consideration for it by everybody.”
DeRozan ranked in the top 10 in fan voting for Eastern Conference guards. But despite his continued importance for the Bulls, it’s understandable why he didn’t pop for voters: He’s scoring 5.2 fewer points per game than when he was selected as an All-Star starter in 2022 and 1.9 fewer than when he was selected as a reserve last year.
White’s experience is the opposite: He has gained national attention for a breakout season, including chatter about the Most Improved Player award. So for Donovan, it’s a matter of when, not if, White earns his first All-Star selection.
“I think he’s pretty close,” Donovan said. “Now, I’m biased because I’m with him every night and he’s played unbelievable and he’s really made a huge impact. I think he’s got that kind of ability to be able to do that.
“He’s kind of moving into the middle part of his career and he’s done nothing every year but get better. My anticipation is that will continue to happen.”
Despite not sending a player to Indianapolis, the Bulls have improved their situation heading into the All-Star break compared with last season.
At last year’s break, the Bulls were 11th in the Eastern Conference with a 26-33 record, requiring a late-season push to qualify for the play-in tournament. This year they enter the weekend at 26-29, good for ninth in the East — a much sturdier standing, even without individual accolades.
Donovan isn’t one to rest, even during the All-Star break. He planned to use the five days off to dive into film and analytics to figure out where the Bulls can get better. After Wednesday’s loss in Cleveland, he already had identified two key areas for improvement after the break: working on the two-big lineup and cleaning up sloppy passing that has led to turnovers.
“There’s so many habits that you’ve got to keep building over a period of time,” Donovan said.
The Bulls need this break.
They’ve played more clutch minutes and overtime games than any other team. White and DeRozan have tallied 1,995.9 minutes apiece this season, the highest volume in the NBA. And with Torrey Craig, Alex Caruso and Patrick Williams recovering from injuries, the break offers a much-needed opportunity to regain fitness.
If there’s a silver lining to the Bulls’ lack of All-Star weekend participation, it’s that all of their players will be able to use the full five days to relax and recover from a brutal two-month stretch.
“The last two months been kind of crazy for us with injuries, dealing with all the noise on the outside with the trade rumors,” DeRozan said. “To go through everything we went through, it showed that we could be right there — with fatigue, being beat up, coming back, fresh minds, fresh bodies, fresh legs.
“It’s been a toll on us all, playing with limited bodies, not knowing who’s going to play. A lot of guys been racking up a lot of minutes. Just refreshing our minds, getting that eagerness, that hunger back.”
