This was supposed to be Ayo Dosunmu’s moment.
When his hometown Chicago Bulls stuck with him, rewarding him with a three-year, $21 million extension last summer despite his disappointing second season, Dosunmu vowed to bounce back.
He did, crafting a career 2023-24 regular season, but one that will be incomplete if a right quad injury keeps him out of Wednesday’s Play-in Tournament game against the Atlanta Hawks.
Ayo Dosunmu testing his right quad contusion on the eve of the Bulls’ Play-in Tournament game against the Atlanta Hawks.
Dosunmu missed the final four games of the regular season because of the injury. His defense against Hawks star Trae Young has been pivotal for the Bulls. pic.twitter.com/5MWEGjvifU
— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) April 16, 2024
After all the improvement he showed, after all the respect he regained, this was the time, team and matchup for Dosunmu to shine. For him to put his development on display before a national audience and show the country how he typically puts clamps on Hawks star Trae Young — all while giving Chicago buckets at the other end.
Dosunmu has been Chicago’s proverbial X-factor against Atlanta for the past three seasons, helping the Bulls go 7-4 against the Hawks since his rookie season in 2021-22. He’s averaged 11.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 28.9 minutes per game in his career against Atlanta.
This season, Dosunmu averaged 21 points, four rebounds and four assists against the Hawks.
In two games against the Bulls this season, Young averaged 20 points and 13.5 assists. But he went 9 of 31 (29 percent) from the floor and shot 5 of 22 (22.7 percent) from 3-point range.
In three games against the Bulls last season, Young averaged 24.7 points and 11 assists but shot 36 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line. He also averaged 5.6 turnovers.
And in four games against the Bulls in Dosunmu’s rookie 2021-22 season, Young averaged 27 points and 10.8 assists, but he shot 39.5 percent from the floor and 37 percent from 3-point range. The Bulls won the season series 3-1.
This is Dosunmu’s chance to prove that the mounting pile of data is not a coincidence.
But as the Bulls make their final preparations for Young and the Hawks in the first of two potential win-or-go-home contests, Dosunmu is busy nursing what he described as a nagging injury. It’s an ailment that started when former Bulls center Wendell Carter Jr. inadvertently kneed him in the thigh during a road loss at Orlando on April 7. Dosunmu has missed the Bulls’ final four regular season games.
“I really wanted to play in New York,” Dosunmu said. “But it didn’t feel right, and it wasn’t the right timing.”
The most challenging part of the ailment, Dosunmu said, is sprinting at top speed. It’s a vital component for keeping up with the speedy and shifty Young.
“That’s pretty much the last hurdle I’m trying to get over,” Dosunmu said. “I’m doing massages, different stretches, different mobility things, ice, stim (electric muscle stimulation), heat, everything just to try to move the bruise in that area and be able to get to a top sprint without discomfort.”
Dosunmu was spotted following Tuesday’s practice participating in a light, two-minute scrimmage with Bulls player development coaches and G League players. It was a step, Dosunmu’s first contact since the Magic game. But it looked nothing like what Dosunmu will see Wednesday night.
“It felt good,” Dosunmu said. “I wanted to try to get an assessment of how I feel. If I play (Wednesday), I didn’t want that to be my first time playing. So I asked if I could do a 2-minute scrimmage, get up and down and see how my wind and my movement was.”
Bulls coach Billy Donovan monitored Dosunmu’s workout alongside Chip Schaefer, Bulls director of performance health, and general manager Marc Eversley.
“I’m not concerned about his health because I believe that the medical, with Ayo, they’ll make a good decision coming to that point,” Donovan said. “If he is cleared to play, he’ll be cleared to play. My concern is the fact that he hasn’t done anything in 10 days.
“I feel confident that if he’s out there and able to go and is cleared to go that he’s safe to do so. But what I don’t know and probably won’t be able to get a feel for is what does he actually look like?”
Donovan has Alex Caruso, an NBA All-Defensive team caliber player, to absorb the bulk of minutes against Young. But the Bulls have excelled against the Hawks in part because of the tag team they can throw at Young. When one player is not assigned to Young, he can slide over to cover Dejounte Murray or sharpshooter Bogdan Bogdanović. But if Dosunmu is unable to play, the Bulls will have to turn to Jevon Carter and Dalen Terry for additional perimeter defense.
“They play at a pretty high pace,” Dosunmu said of the Hawks. “They want to get up and down. They want to take early shots, get a lot of 3s up. And I think that plays to my advantage in terms of the matchup. Trae is a phenomenal player. Looking at his track record in the league around this time, he plays his best basketball. …
“Pretty much everything I’ve done against him in the regular season, you can throw that out the window because it’s win or go home and he’s an All-Star.”
Dosunmu credited his length and competitiveness for helping him to hold his own against Young and become a critical X-factor in the matchup.
“When a competitor is on a competitor, that makes it fun,” Dosunmu said. “Just try to do whatever it takes to keep him out of rhythm and not foul him; not put him on the line. A lot of the better players in the NBA, (if) you give them rhythm or early free throws and they see the ball go in, and then they start to get in their bag.
“Just try to avoid silly mistakes and make him take tough shots and make tough shots.”
Restricted mobility would make the job much tougher for Dosunmu. That’s why he’s hopeful swelling subsides before tipoff. He wants to play. But he must be smart.
“I have the right mindset to stay locked in and have faith that it’s going to be alright,” Dosunmu said. “This injury is tough because it’s nagging. And nagging injuries can be the worst injuries at times because you have to know, ‘OK, do I play through this pain? And if I play through this pain, does it risk the fact of me overusing another part of my body and possibly injuring something else?’”
Dosunmu’s bursts of speed attacking to the basket have turned him into a high-efficiency scorer. When healthy, Dosunmu dashes to the rim and any other spot he chooses seemingly with ease. He may not be as effective offensively, but he can be selective.
“It just comes down to pace,” Dosunmu said. “Reading the floor. Picking and choosing my spots and when to attack. When I’m fully healthy, I can pretty much go here, here and here consecutively. Now it’s about playing chess and understanding, ‘OK, I have this angle. I can use this if I get in the paint here, I have to jump-stop.’ I always try to find ways to adjust.”
Dosunmu is determined to do everything he can to play. He doesn’t want a resurgent third season to end with him watching powerlessly from the bench. The timing is unfortunate, but Dosunmu must listen to his body and do what’s best for it and the team.
“Having another body would be great,” Donovan said. “But I also know Ayo’s the kind of guy that if he was out there and it was detrimental to the team or just wasn’t able to do the things that he knows he’s capable of doing at the level he wants to do them, then it makes it hard. I think he’s worked hard against Trae Young. But I’d think he’d probably tell you it’s taken 100 percent of him to do that.”
(Photo of Ayo Dosunmu and Trae Young: Melissa Tamez / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
