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Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu out for season with shoulder injury, set for surgery

Chicago Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu will miss the rest of the season after discovering a fracture in his shoulder that was at least a year old, he confirmed on Tuesday.

Dosunmu will undergo surgery to repair his left shoulder on Wednesday, and he will need four to six months to recover. He expects to be ready to go in time for training camp next fall.

Dosunmu first went down with his shoulder injury during a game against the New York Knicks on Feb. 20, and he then missed three games as a result. While he tried to return on Friday night in their win over the Toronto Raptors, Dosunmu struggled to deal with his shoulder pain. An MRI then revealed that the fracture was at least a year old, which led to the Bulls shutting him down for the rest of the year.

"I don't remember where it started at, but I do remember having it," Dosunmu said, via ESPN’s Jamal Collier. "My shoulder goes numb and [would pop] out in the back. I do remember that numerous times, but I can't tell you the exact date.

"It was something that I played on and I think I could have continued to play on, but I don't know for what reason."

Dosunmu, who the Bulls took in the second round of the 2021 draft out of Illinois, finished the season averaging 12.3 points, 4.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game — all of which were career-highs. The 25-year-old will enter the final year of his three-year, $21 million deal with the team next season.

The Bulls entered Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a 24-37 record, which has them in 10th in the Eastern Conference standings. Chicago has made it to the first round of the playoffs just once in the past eight seasons.

"I'm proud overall of the whole season, going out there, battling injuries and continuing to fight," Dosunmu said. "The last game, just trying to give it all I had, help the team get a win. [I] pretty much knew it would probably be my last game of the season. Just knew how I felt out there.