The Chicago Bulls are missing four rotation players due to injuries. Second-year forward Lauri Markkanen is set to make his season debut in the coming weeks. Fellow starters Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis are also on the mend and will return later this year. Unfortunately, third-year wing Denzel Valentine will not be joining the team in 2018-19.

Valentine tweaked his left ankle during the first week of training camp, and was originally slated to miss a week or two. The team attempted to ease him back into the lineup with limited practices, but his ankle wasn’t responding well to treatment. He still couldn’t make hard cuts by early November.

Valentine visited a specialist in Wisconsin. Following the evaluation, he decided to undergo reconstructive surgery on his ankle. Recovery is slated to take four-to-six months, essentially ending his season before it could begin.

This is another crushing blow for a player in Denzel Valentine that already dealt with other left leg issues. He missed the final five games of the 2017-18 season to undergo an arthroscopic debridement of his left knee.

Valentine logged 77 games and 37 starts in 2017-18 before the team shut him down. He averaged 10.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. 2018-19 was supposed his comeback season. That is now postponed for another year.

Valentine is a big-bodied, floor-spacing, occasional playmaking wing. He stands 6’6″ and weighs 214 pounds, making him a load to handle on either side of the floor. His best asset to the Bulls is his shooting.

Denzel knocked down 38.6 percent from 3-point range last year, third-best on the team. It’s also highest among current Bulls held over from the 2017-18 roster. This team surely misses his 4.8 shots from distance per game. The Bulls average the 22nd-most attempts in the NBA this year. They finished last season with the sixth-most.

Valentine also had value inside the arc: He is strikingly adept at hitting floaters. He knocked down 37 of his 81 floating shot attempts last season (45.7 percent). Valentine connected on 45.2 percent of his paint shots outside of the restricted area. That was a whopping 5.5 percent above the league average.

That type of unique ability keeps defenses honest. First, they have to guess rather Valentine will shoot or drive. If he drives, they can’t sit back in the paint and wait for him to attack the rim. There is always the possibility that he will fling a floater in traffic, and there’s a decent chance he’ll make the shot.

The Bulls will also lose a secondary playmaker in Denzel Valentine. His 3.2 assists per game would be third-best on the Bulls this season. His 2.46 assist-to-turnover ratio was 13th-best in the NBA last year among forwards that logged at least 10 minutes per game.

However, once Valentine returns, he will likely need to improve his proficiency at the rim. He shot 58.0 percent inside the restricted area in 2017-18, 5.3 percent below league average. As a result, he graded out as a D- finisher according to B-Ball Index, placing him in the league’s 25th percentile in that category.

The biggest question will be how well Valentine recovers from his injuries. He will enter 2019-20 having endured surgeries for both his left ankle and knee. Thanks to modern medicine, it’s plausible that all of his issues will be fixed and he will bounce back quickly. Still, Bulls fans will likely be on edge for awhile anytime he makes an intensive move on the court.

On Oct. 30, the organization exercised Valentine’s team option for 2019-20. Therefore, it is shaping up to be a big season for him. For one, he will seek to prove he can still play after a year away from NBA action. However, he will also be playing to earn a bigger contract in the summer of 2020 when he will be a restricted free agent.

Third-year wing Denzel Valentine will miss the entire 2018-19 season due to left ankle issues. Without him, the Chicago Bulls miss out on a player that hit 3-pointers and floaters consistent and serve as a secondary playmaker. Luckily, the team picked up his team option for next year. This means that even though his absence will be felt in 2019, he still has a chance to make an impact in 2020.

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