Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls center, was forced to leave last Monday's loss against Brooklyn Nets 105-102, due to a sprained left shoulder. He needs to be re-evaluated, which means he is about to miss at least a couple of weeks of the regular season, as confirmed by Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg.
Noah's sprain injury happened in the third quarter, while he was doing some defense. After Andrea Bargnani of Brooklyn jumped and came down on his left arm, Noah bent his arm back awkwardly and was called for a foul on that particular play. After this, Noah can be seen running around the court with an obvious pain, specifically with the left shoulder, which has been heavily leaned over for a brief moment. Noah, then headed out of the court and went straight to the locker room, GiveMeSport shared.
For Noah, who have missed the 15 games from last season and also played through some serious knee problems, this time, the timing is very bad. On a Saturday game against the New York Knicks, Noah earned his season high of 21 points, 10 rebounds in just 29 minutes. 16 minutes prior to his sprain injury on Monday, he got 8 assists, 2 blocks and 8 rebounds, CBSSports wrote.
This is very difficult for the Chicago Bulls as the team is now in the middle of a crisis, after losing three times in a row, with the recent loss against Brooklyn which appears to show a clear picture of their worst season. Evidently, there is a problem with the leadership here, and it would be much difficult for Noah to assist their team's growing problem is he is on the sideline. Noah is a huge loss, as he is Chicago's best passer and the best defensive big guy.
Joakim Noah had his MRI last Tuesday and is scheduled to be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks. He is averaging 8.8 rebounds and 4.5 points prior his current injury.