NBA team expresses outrage to league over Grayson Allen antics
Friday night, Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso went down hard after a foul by Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen. It didn’t look good at the time, but Caruso played on.
Saturday afternoon, Bulls fans got news they didn’t want to hear.
Caruso suffered a fractured wrist on the play and will undergo surgery, Chicago announced. He’ll be re-evaluated in 6-8 weeks, according to the release.
The play occurred in the third quarter of Milwaukee’s 94-90 win over Chicago at Fiserv Forum. Caruso went for a breakaway layup when Allen went to block the shot. In the process, he hit Caruso with his other arm and knocked him to the ground.
The officials reviewed it and ruled a flagrant two, meaning Allen was ejected from the NBA game. He had five points and three rebounds at the time of his ejection.
After the game, Bulls coach Billy Donovan sounded off on the play.
“It was really bad. It was really, really bad,” Donovan told reporters, via NBC Sports Chicago’s KC Johnson. “I’ll just say this: We lost Patrick (Williams) on a flagrant foul to a pretty significant injury. … For Alex to be in the air like that and for him to take him down like that, it could’ve ended his career. And (Allen) has a history of this. That, to me, was really dangerous.”
The Bulls have publicly made their stance on the play, and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported they’ve done so privately with the NBA league office, as well.
“[The] Bulls have expressed public and private outage to league office on Allen’s Flagrant 2 foul on Friday night — coupled with his personal history of plays considered to be dirty,” Wojnarowski tweeted.
More on Alex Caruso, Grayson Allen
After playing at Duke from 2014-18, the Utah Jazz drafted Allen with the No. 21 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. In 41 games this season with the Bucks, he’s averaging 11.8 points per game on 42.3% shooting, including 39.1% from three-point territory.
Caruso was playing in his second game back after a foot injury and health and safety protocols. He’s in the first year of a four-year deal with the Bulls and a big part of their defensive game plan. Caruso played on despite the injury and finished with seven points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Chicago is tied with the Miami Heat for second place in the Eastern Conference standings, 0.5 game behind the Brooklyn Nets. Milwaukee is right behind them, 1.5 games back of Brooklyn.