Bulls' Joakim Noah suffers left shoulder separation

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You could see it, hear it and almost feel it when Joakim Noah got tangled up with Dallas’ JaVale McGee, separating his left shoulder, the same one that was strained in late December.

He yelled out “Aww (bleep)”, running right to the locker room after galloping to press row in extreme pain, repeating the phrase twice before reversing course, running past the Bulls bench and to the locker room, much to the shock of the United Center crowd.

Noah was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game and now one wonders where his season and the remainder of his career in Chicago stands after this. He’ll undergo an MRI and a timeline will be determined.

Chicago native and Charlotte Hornets swingman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist suffered a separated right shoulder early in the preseason and underwent surgery shortly thereafter, with the expectation he’ll miss the entire season with his torn labrum.

Many will remember Cleveland’s Kevin Love had surgery on a dislocated shoulder during the first round of the NBA playoffs and he missed the remainder of the Cavaliers’ run to the NBA Finals, being away from basketball activity for 4-6 months.

If that timeline holds, then it’s possible Noah misses the rest of the season with his shoulder injury, as well as opens the door to questions about whether the Bulls should’ve taken the surgical route sooner, when he suffered the shoulder strain on December 21.

It caused Noah to miss nine games and on his first game back, he tweaked the injury getting blocked at the rim by Washington’s John Wall, but stayed in the game. Noah will be a free agent this July and is in the midst of his worst statistical season, averaging 4.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 22 games, most of them coming off the bench in his new role, one he admitted was tough to embrace.

Now he must embrace the possibility of a different kind of present: rehab with an uncertain future, be it in Chicago or elsewhere.

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