Bulls suspend Bobby Portis eight games for fight; NBA wants to discuss incident
Portis left Nikola Mirotic with facial fractures and a concussion after an altercation in Tuesday practice
Update: Bulls forward Bobby Portis has been suspended for eight games by the Chicago Bulls after his altercation with teammate Nikola Mirotic, the team announced.
Bobby Portis suspended eight games by the Bulls, the team has announced.
— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) October 18, 2017
Bulls exec VP John Paxson: Both players owned responsibility. But only one player threw punch. It’s inexcusable.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 18, 2017
Mirotic is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks due to the injuries he sustained during the altercation.
Just hours before the 2017-18 NBA season was set to begin Tuesday night, reports began circulating of a nasty altercation between Chicago Bulls forwards Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis at practice. A short time later, the team released a statement indicating that the reports were correct.
"Chicago Bulls forwards Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic had a physical altercation during today's practice. As a result of the incident, Mirotic suffered a concussion and maxillary fractures. Surgery is likely required. Mirotic is out indefinitely. The Bulls are evaluating disciplinary action. An update will be provided when applicable."
Unsurprisingly, the league wants to discuss the incident with Portis, and according to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the two parties have a call scheduled for Wednesday.
Chicago's Bobby Portis has call set with NBA in New York today to discuss punch thrown at teammate Nikola Mirotic, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 18, 2017
What exactly they want to discuss is not clear, though the league will likely want to gather as much information as possible from everyone involved before making any sort of decision on potential discipline.
NBC Sports Chicago's Vincent Goodwill added that this incident has been brewing between the two forwards for three years, and that for what it's worth, Mirotic was the instigator.
















