Nikola Mirotic Is Still Not Speaking To Bobby Portis At Bulls Practice

Nikola Mirotic has returned to the Bulls practice facility to workout and continue his comeback from facial fractures and a concussion. Those injuries were famously sustained during a practice fight when teammate Bobby Portis punched him in the face.

Portis was suspended for eight games, but has since returned to the team for the past three games where he leads the team with 19.3 points and 10 rebounds per game. The team has apparently welcomed Portis back in with open arms and would reportedly side with him over Mirotic if forced to choose.

Mirotic has, understandably, requested to be dealt by the organization, but to this point the Bulls have not been willing or able to make that happen. So, nearly a full month since the Oct. 17 incident, Mirotic has still not spoken with Portis. Now that he’s at the facility again, it’s become an even more awkward situation, as coach Fred Hoiberg said Mirotic is talking and interacting with everyone else, but still avoiding Portis.

The coach is also “hopeful” the two will meet soon and hash things out.

Mirotic being mad at Portis still is understandable. The man gave him a severe facial fracture and concussion, knocking him out for 4-6 weeks of the season. The biggest problem appears to be how the Bulls are handling the entire situation, with the organization doing very little to either bring a resolution to the issue or, at the least, facilitating and mediating some kind of meeting between the two.

Instead, they’ve pushed Mirotic to come back to the facility, and John Paxson told NBC Sports Chicago’s Vincent Goodwill its on him to be around when the team is around.

“I think what has to be understood is that we weren’t going to be in a position to continuously accommodate those needs,” Paxson said. “When he started to get healthy, because he’s on our roster, it’s incumbent on him to be around when the team’s around. That’s just a part of it. I look at it this way: We want him to start coming around more. And it is on him to do that.”

Whether Paxson and the Bulls organization want it to be the case or not, it is somewhat on them to help resolve this issue. That would be what a functional organization would do. However, little over the past few years would indicate that’s the case in Chicago, and no one is surprised that the entire situation is being handled poorly. For now, Mirotic is still working off to the side at practice, riding the exercise bike while overlooking practice (which is extra awkward with Portis down there playing).

At some point, Mirotic is going to be pushed back onto the court with the team, because Paxson reiterated that they are “not in a position” to accommodate his trade request, and if the two haven’t interacted by then, it will make for a wildly intriguing first meeting on the practice court.