Chicago Bulls’ Coby White appears to have avoided a serious injury — plus 3 takeaways from the 126-111 loss at home

The Chicago Bulls dodged a potential nightmare for the final stretch of the season.

Despite exiting Wednesday’s road win against the Indiana Pacers with a right hip injury and missing Thursday’s home game against the Los Angeles Clippers, guard Coby White is not expected to miss significant time for the Bulls.

Coach Billy Donovan told reporters ahead of Thursday’s game that White underwent MRI scans after the team arrived in Chicago. The scans did not show any significant damage that could cause a long-term absence. White was designated “questionable” for Thursday’s game with hip soreness, but Donovan voiced optimism about the guard’s early prognosis.

“All the imaging came back relatively clean,” Donovan said. “He is dealing with discomfort and soreness. It’s just a matter of how quickly and soon he can get over that.”

The Bulls lost at home to the Clippers 126-11.

When White crashed to the ground — right leg splayed out, left knee buckled under his body — in the final 10 seconds of Wednesday’s game in Indianapolis, the Bulls seemed to be staring down a catastrophe. Even Donovan thought White had grabbed his knee in pain, signally an injury that could have derailed a breakout season that landed White in the top echelon of players considered for the Most Improved Player Award.

But White was able to walk off the court on his own, albeit with a serious limp. By the time his teammates joined him after an overtime victory a half-hour later, he was cracking jokes while moving gingerly around the locker room.

White is perhaps the most vital player for the Bulls — running the point, averaging 19.5 points and 5.2 assists and leading the league with a 2424.6 minutes played over 66 games. But that workload has also been taxing, especially as injuries to Zach LaVine and Patrick Williams limited roster depth.

The Bulls don’t know when White will return, although it could be as soon as Saturday against the Washington Wizards at the United Center. With 15 games remaining in the season after Thursday, the Bulls will have no choice but to lean on the guard for a high volume of minutes for the remainder of the regular season and postseason.

Donovan noted the injury will highlight how White needs to prepare during the offseason as he continues to shoulder higher expectations.

“For Coby, it’s been an eye-opening experience in a lot of ways,” Donovan said. “He has an incredible threshold to fight through things. But coming into the season I don’t know if he would’ve anticipated the number of minutes that he’s gotten this year. … That’s part of his evolution as a player.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

1. Bulls struggle with short-handed outing.

A rematch against the Clippers was always set to be a challenge – but the Bulls were fully outmatched after losing both White and Julian Phillips to injury and playing in Indiana the night before.

The loss of White was palpable from the opening whistle, limiting the team’s ability to create shots and space the floor. Defenders no longer had to prioritize shutting down his path to the basket, cutting off options to dump into the post and kick out behind the arc.

“It was tough,” center Nikola Vucevic said. He’s one of our best guys in the two-man game, pick and roll, one of our best shooters in general. He gets downhill, he creates a lot, he puts a lot of pressure on the rim and hits me in the pocket or kicks out inside out. So you miss a guy like that. It’s always difficult.”

2. Clippers dominate from behind the arc

Despite the loss, Thursday was a consistent shooting night from the Bulls, who finished 16-for-35 from behind the arc while shooting 47.7% from the field. But that volume wasn’t enough to counter the Clippers, who went 20-for-41 from 3-point range to dominate long-range shooting.

Paul George went 6-for-7 from behind the arc on his own while Bones Hyland went 4-for-7.

3. Bulls fall further away from .500

The last time the Bulls faced the Clippers just last week, they were only one win away from breaking .500 for the first time since they were 2-2 at the start of the season. But now, the Bulls have fallen three games behind .500 with a 32-35 record.

With only 15 games left in the regular season, the Bulls have a lot of ground to make up if they hope to finish above .500 – a milestone they missed last season after finishing 40-42. And after slipping four games behind the eighth-ranked Miami Heat, the Bulls are losing ground on any prospects of moving up out of their ninth place spot in the East to enter the play-in tournament.