Ivey Gets DNP-CD With Bulls’ Crowded Backcourt Healthy

With Josh Giddey and Tre Jones back in action on Thursday following injury absences, Jaden Ivey was the odd man out in a crowded Bulls backcourt. Ivey, who started three of four games and averaged 28.8 minutes per night for Chicago prior to the All-Star break, didn’t play at all in a home loss to Toronto and said after the game that he thought it was the first DNP-CD of his career, per Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic.

Bulls assistant Wes Unseld Jr., acting as head coach with Billy Donovan away from the team following the death of his father, explained that it was “strictly a basketball decision” necessitated by having a fully healthy backcourt, as well as a desire to have Giddey and Jones play regular roles in their first game back.

“I talked to several guys (Thursday) morning, and then I addressed the team about it, and it’s just a byproduct of where we are in our composition,” Unseld told reporters.

Giddey and Jones, who were on minutes restrictions, played 21 and 22 minutes respectively, while recent trade acquisition Anfernee Simons logged 31. Collin Sexton and Rob Dillingham, the team’s other newly added guards, played 15 and 10 minutes off the bench.

As Lorenzi writes, the usage of the guards seemed to be at odds with the Bulls’ actions earlier this month at a busy trade deadline. With its seven deadline deals, Chicago appeared prepared to pivot toward its younger players, but Simons and Sexton – veterans on expiring contracts – are ahead of Ivey, a restricted-free-agent-to-be, and second-year guard Dillingham on the depth chart for now.

Asked after the game about his DNP-CD, Ivey offered little clarity, according to Lorenzi, who says the former Piston repeatedly referenced his faith and declared that he doesn’t “really trust the NBA setting.”

“When moves are made behind the scenes, trades and stuff,” Ivey replied when asked what he meant. “I don’t trust that part of (it). I mean, you can’t trust it, because it’s not in your hands. So it’s not in my hands to make moves, or trade myself.”

Ivey later said he was told the decision to sit him on Thursday was the result of “a series of things,” including ongoing knee soreness that he referred to as something he’s been dealing with “for years.” The fourth-year guard underwent surgery on his right knee in October that delayed his season debut, but he hasn’t been listed on the injury report recently and said that soreness isn’t something that will “keep me from doing my job.”

Still, there have been some questions this season about whether Ivey is at 100% after returning from a broken left leg that ended his 2024/25 season, as well as that right knee surgery. He played a reduced role in Detroit (16.8 MPG) prior to the trade and didn’t look like his old explosive self. Asked if there are still health-related steps to take before he regains his former athleticism, Ivey offered an eyebrow-raising response, Lorenzi notes.

“I’m sure people can call it out — I’m not the same player I used to be,” he said. “(The knee soreness is) why. I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is.”

As Lorenzi observes, it’s possible the Bulls will adjust their rotation going forward and Ivey’s DNP-CD ends up being a one-off that’s quickly forgotten. But based on Thursday’s usage, it doesn’t appear at this point that developing Ivey and Dillingham is a top priority for the team.