Bulls’ Zach Lavine Likely To Need Offseason Knee Surgery

Bulls guard Zach LaVine is likely to need surgery on his injured knee this offseason, with the injury perhaps being worse than LaVine was willing to admit, per Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“LaVine was doing his best to downplay the severity of the pain he’s been dealing with, but at the same time reminding everyone that the player everyone was seeing at the start of this season was not the same player on either side of the ball by the end,” Cowley wrote.

LaVine was listed as out for the Bulls for Wednesday’s Game 5 in Milwaukee, as we relayed earlier. The Bulls trail the series, 3-1.

A source told Cowley that while Lavine said his knee was operating at about 80 percent, it was “more like 50% and that’s on a good day.’’

LaVine was the Bulls’ second-leading scorer during the season, averaging 24.4 points.

“And while LaVine wouldn’t come out and say for sure he was headed for off-season surgery — likely a scope — the source said he will in fact have surgery almost immediately this offseason,” Cowley reported. “One scenario that had been ruled out, according to the source, was that the knee was degenerative and LaVine would be dealing with this long-term.”