Bulls and Bucks Rivalry Heats Up Over the Weekend

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In the third quarter of Friday night’s matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks, Grayson Allen hit Bulls guard Alex Caruso with a hard foul while in mid-air. Caruso was down for a short amount of time but was ultimately able to finish the game. Allen was seen smirking as he was ultimately ejected from the game with a flagrant 2 foul. The Bucks would win the game 94-90. The drama continued Saturday morning when the Bucks Twitter sent out the following tweet:

Many fans immediately called out the team for the poor taste in their tweet. The Chicago Bulls Twitter account responded as well. Many from the basketball world believed the tweet to be intentional, while others defended Allen, the Bucks players who defended him in the aftermath, and the Bucks account as well. Basketball fans and personalities clashed with one another over Allen’s actions, as well as the tweet made by the Bucks account. The official account for NBC Sports Chicago’s Bulls Talk tweeted out a picture showing they were blocked by the Bucks account. In addition, former players such as Richard Jefferson chimed in tweeting “Grayson Allen giggling after receiving a flagrant 2 and being ejected seems pretty on-brand for him.”

Jabs and conversations continued between basketball fans and personalities for a few more hours until the news nobody wanted to hear broke. Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted out that Caruso suffered a fractured right wrist, most likely coming from that Grayson Allen play. He also noted that Caruso will have surgery on that wrist and will be re-evaluated in 6-8 weeks. Not too long after that, the Bucks account deleted the tweet they posted earlier, but it is not gone.

Several things come out of all of this. The first is Caruso’s injury. He just came back earlier this week after a combination of an injury and being in health and safety protocols. Now being out and re-evaluated in 6-8 weeks, he will be out in addition to Lonzo Ball, Javonte Green, Derrick Jones Jr., and Patrick Williams. Zach Lavine is still out but expected to return soon. The Bulls are out two great defensive players in Caruso and Ball until March at the earliest. Thought of as contenders, the Bulls were expected to be players at the trade deadline, but due to Caruso and Ball being out, there’s no doubt they’ll have to look for some defensive-minded players on the market. While it’s possible the Bulls can be healthy going into the playoffs if all goes well, the next two months will be a challenge for the team and they could drop in the standings.

The second thing to come out of this is Allen’s reputation. Grayson Allen has a history of dirty plays going back to his college days at Duke. This is not the first time Allen has been at the center of a dirty play. He’s tripped many players, hit players high, and committed plenty of non-basketball plays. Plenty has noted this, giving Allen the reputation he has. Many defending Allen also brought up the fact that Talen Horton-Tucker of the Los Angeles Lakers committed a similar foul while playing against the Orlando Magic on Friday night. They argued that Tucker only received a flagrant 1 while Allen received a flagrant 2 and was ejected. While the plays were similar, Allen does have a history of non-basketball plays. The third and final thing to come (or rather not come out of this at the time of writing) is any response from the league itself. Given this occurred on Friday night, it’s likely that the league will say something on Monday, if they say anything at all. Many called for Allen to be suspended, but with the way the league has handled many things this season, Allen will probably face a small fine, if he faces any consequences at all. In the aftermath, players, fans, and personalities are all looking ahead to March 4th, when the Bucks and Bulls will play again, in Chicago this time. The game will be a must-watch after what occurred Friday night and early Saturday, with Allen guaranteed to get a very warm welcome from the city of Chicago and Bulls fans.