Patrick Williams’ 2023-24 season was cut short by a season-ending injury in his left foot that required surgery. Nonetheless, the Chicago Bulls remain high on Williams and see him as a long-term player in the franchise’s rebuilding efforts, signing him to a five-year, $90 million contract with the assumption that he will be fully healthy by the 2024-25 season. However, as training camp approaches, Williams has suffered a setback in his injury recovery, which will cause alarm among Bulls franchise members. According to Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic, Williams reported foot discomfort that necessitated “additional rest” during the team’s minicamp in Miami.
The good news is that the Bulls’ concern over Williams is more of a short-term one, as they hope that the extra rest will benefit the 23-year-old forward. However, there are still legitimate concerns about Williams’ long-term health.
He last played for the Bulls in January, and he reported in July that his recovery was going well. It is not a good omen that two months later, there is still ambiguity about the condition of his foot.
Williams, the fourth overall choice in the 2020 NBA Draft, has yet to live up to his draft position. This is not to suggest he is a bust; he has been a reliable, if unspectacular, two-way player for the Bulls over the last four seasons.
Williams’ career, however, will require a clean bill of health before it can truly take off. It has to be seen whether he can step up for the Bulls in the first year of a serious rebuild, as availability is the most important factor.
Patrick Williams has a breakout potential in a Bulls rebuild. For the previous four seasons, Patrick Williams has primarily remained in the background for the Bulls. The Bulls didn’t need him to be a go-to player, and he never shown that he was prepared to take on a larger offensive role. Williams appeared to be caught between two options. Didn’t he develop swiftly because of his position in the team’s offensive hierarchy? Or did he fail to grasp a larger role as a result of his slow development? It’s impossible to say what Williams does best. He doesn’t have the most
sophisticated handles, and he doesn’t shoot the ball from deep with great efficiency and volume. Williams has proven to be quite disruptive defensively, and he has good He possesses the size and length of a wing player, but he has yet to put his tools together consistently. But now that DeMar DeRozan is gone and Zach LaVine appears to be on his way out, Williams has an opportunity to shine, provided he stays healthy for next season. To make things function, he needs to develop a new level of motor skills. There are moments when he disappears into the background; he needs to be more proactive in making things happen, since the Bulls will need one of their young players to step up if they are to develop a contending club in the not-too-far future.
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