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Bulls' Alex Caruso Diagnosed with Fractured Wrist After Grayson Allen Flagrant Foul
January 22, 2022
Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso is going to be out for an extended period after being diagnosed with a fractured wrist stemming from Grayson Allen's flagrant-2 foul in Friday's game with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bulls announced Caruso will undergo surgery next week and be reevaluated in six to eight weeks.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bulls have "expressed public and private outrage" to the league office regarding Allen's actions.
The play occurred late in the third quarter when Caruso was driving for a layup, but his body got turned in midair when Allen hooked his right arm and sent him crashing to the court.
Allen was ejected from the game after receiving the flagrant-2.
Bulls players and coaches expressed their unhappiness with the play after Milwaukee's 94-90 win.
"Dude just grabbed me out of the air," Caruso told reporters. "It's kind of bulls--t. I don't know what else you can do about it. I'm just glad that I didn't have any major scary injuries right away."
Head coach Billy Donovan didn't hold back with his thoughts on Allen while speaking to the media:
"For Alex to be in the air like that and take him down like that, he could've ended his career. And he has a history of this. That to me was really dangerous, and I really hope the league takes a hard look at that because he could've really, really seriously hurt him. He’s dealing with a wrist right now. I don't know what the extent the wrist is, but just being there it's really, really dangerous."
Allen has a reputation for being a dirty player dating back to his time in college at Duke. He tripped three different players between his sophomore and junior seasons, including Louisville's Ray Spalding and Florida State's Xavier Rathan-Mayes in February 2016.
As a senior in 2017-18, Allen received a flagrant-1 foul for a hip check against North Carolina's Garrison Brooks in the first half of an ACC tournament game.
Allen was ejected from a 2019 NBA Summer League game with the Memphis Grizzlies after being assessed two flagrant fouls for taking two shots at Boston Celtics center Robert Williams III' head in the fourth quarter.
Caruso has been one of Chicago's most important role players so far this season. Friday was just his second game back after missing 13 consecutive games from Dec. 26 to Jan. 17 with a sprained left foot.
A six-to-eight week recovery timetable means Caruso could return between early or mid-March. The 27-year-old is averaging 8.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 28 games for the Bulls.