CHICAGO — The NBA trade deadline passed more than two weeks ago, yet the Chicago Bulls are still adding to the confounding saga of their flurry of deals.

Injuries once again sit at the heart of the issue. Guard Jaden Ivey will be sidelined for at least two weeks with a left knee injury. He will miss at least seven games and could stay home for the entirety of a five-game trip from March 5-13.

This is a major loss for a team already dealing with injuries. But more importantly for the Bulls — who are de-emphasizing winning to chase a higher draft pick — Ivey’s absence throws into question one of their most important acquisitions from the trade deadline.

The Bulls did not provide a clear timeline for the development of Ivey’s injury. He was not listed on the injury report for Thursday’s game. Acting coach Wes Unseld Jr. said that he made a “basketball decision” to not play Ivey against the Toronto Raptors that night. The first mention of any injury concern came from Ivey after that game, when he alluded to knee soreness as part of the reasoning for his absence.

Ivey, acquired Feb. 3 from the Detroit Pistons in a three-team trade, missed practice Friday to undergo further medical testing, then landed on the injury report for the first time with “pain syndrome” in his left patellofemoral. Then, the team made the announcement Saturday morning — hours before tipoff against the Pistons at the United Center — that he would be sidelined for at least two weeks.

Ivey did little to clear matters up. The guard leans heavily on religious references during his media availabilities, which muddies his answers to direct questions regarding his physical condition and outlook on his future in Chicago.

When asked about his injury after not playing in Thursday’s loss to the Raptors, Ivey alluded to the idea that fans believe he is “not the same player as I used to be” before launching into a lengthy explanation in which he stated “the old JI is dead” and “born again” in his religion, emphasizing that he prioritizes his faith over his basketball accolades. Ivey’s insistence on overlapping the two topics prevented him from concisely communicating whether he believes he can play effectively for the Bulls this season — or at any time in the future.

This was always a gamble. Ivey shattered the fibula in his left leg on New Year’s Day in 2025, a gruesome injury that required multiple surgeries and months of rehabilitation. Barely a year later, Ivey still hasn’t returned to his former level of play. He lacks explosivity, especially when starting and stopping. Coach Billy Donovan noticed the difference the moment the guard arrived in Chicago.

“I don’t think he’s played at the level that he’s capable of playing at or has played at,” Donovan said. “In my opinion, he’s not moving like he once did.”

Ivey’s diagnosis by the medical team roughly translates to runner’s knee, a common issue for players recovering from reconstructive surgery in their lower legs. Donovan said the medical team identified significant weakness in the stabilizing muscles surrounding Ivey’s knee, which appears to be the leading cause of this soreness.

This makes sense for a player who returned from a broken fibula barely 11 months after the injury occurred. It’s likely that Ivey simply didn’t have enough time to rebuild his leg fully from the trauma of the broken leg and the lack of use during his recovery. He will spend the next two weeks rebuilding strength in the leg, at which point the medical team will assess his readiness to return to play.

Ivey might not regain full strength or confidence in his left leg until next season, but Donovan and the Bulls feel confident that he can return to his former self.

“There’s a feeling that if he can get some more strength back then he can get back to where he was athletically,” Donovan said. “He knows that he’s not as explosive as he once was, but I don’t think that means that he can’t get back to that point. A big part of that is going to be him getting stronger.”

Even with Donovan’s belief, however, Ivey’s injury raises a serious question: Why did the Bulls invest in the guard if his athleticism was still this big of a concern?

Many of the trades the Bulls made at the deadline were focused on moving players to accumulate second-round picks while positioning the roster for a tank job. But Ivey was one of the few players the Bulls hoped to invest in, a 24-year-old with high upside who fit in the general timeline of their unofficial rebuild. By grabbing Ivey at the deadline, the Bulls positioned themselves to retain the guard in restricted free agency this summer. Now, that tactic seems questionable.

Ivey’s situation is strange. The guard was cleared to play by medical teams in Detroit and Chicago. A month ago, he was logging nearly 20 minutes per game for the best team in the Eastern Conference. Now, he needs to be shut down for a lingering problem.

There is a chance Ivey simply wasn’t ready for starting minutes. He joked about his extensive playing time in his Bulls debut in Toronto, where he played 33 minutes due to a lack of available players. If all Ivey needs is some extra help in his strength and conditioning, the Bulls won’t mind shutting down a valued player and regrouping with the guard next season.

But even if the Bulls weren’t trying to make a playoff push, Ivey’s lack of availability should have affected his trade value. The Bulls, for instance, lost a second-round pick in their deal with the Charlotte Hornets due to the severity of Coby White’s lingering calf injuries. The Bulls are always on the giving end of those amendments. Now, they are saddled with a player whose body still has plenty to prove.

The uncertainty of it all stings. The Bulls don’t know much about their future. They have to wait to see where they will pick in the draft and whom they will recruit in free agency and whether their young players will be any closer to making an impact next season.

The last thing this front office needs is another question — but it has acquired a looming one with Ivey.

©2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.