Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg announced that Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler would come off of the bench for Friday’s game against the Heat for disciplinary reasons.
Butler and Wade won't start as discipline.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 27, 2017
Wade and Butler have both been extremely critical of the team and the perceived lack of effort from their teammates of late as the Bulls have hit a rough patch and slipped to the eighth spot in the East after a 4-6 stretch. Wade and Butler have been very vocal about their frustrations to the media, which led to Rajon Rondo ripping both of them in an Instagram post on Thursday night.
Before Friday morning’s shootaround, the Bulls had a lengthy team meeting to discuss the situation and get all of the frustrations out in the open. All three of the major parties involved in the recent war of words on Twitter, Instagram and in the media spoke after shootaround and shrugged off any ill will towards the others.
However, before all of this can have a chance to blow over, Chicago’s two stars will sit to start the game on Friday against the Heat. This is the second time in as many weeks that we’ve seen players being benched for airing grievances about the team to the media, as the Bucks players were the ones who decided Jabari Parker should come off the bench a week ago for discussing the details of a team meeting.
