LOS ANGELES — Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said Coby White has been cleared to make his season debut on Monday night versus the Los Angeles Lakers.
White, who has been working his way back from offseason shoulder surgery, projects to prop up sagging offensive bench production, particularly from 3-point range.
"Provided everything goes well with his stuff (Sunday) and no setbacks, which we don't anticipate there being any, he'll be cleared to go," Donovan said.
White is a career 35.7 percent shooter from 3-point range and has averaged 14.2 points over his first two seasons, which have featured him alternating from bench-scoring sparkplug to starting point guard.
White lost that job to the Bulls' acquisition of Lonzo Ball. But he still projects to play a big role on this team, which entered play Sunday 27th in bench points (26.6) and 29th in bench 3-pointers (2.6) per game, although Donovan has said he plans to work him back conservatively.
"I do think with our second unit, he can provide some shooting for that group," Donovan said. "It's probably going to take him a little bit of time to get into a rhythm considering he's been out for so long. He missed the whole training camp, the whole summer. He hasn't really played necessarily other than a few occasions of 5-on-5. We're just going to have to see as it goes.
"With the way Ayo (Dosunmu) has played, I don't want to say, 'OK, we're flopping those two guys and Ayo is out of the rotation. I think he (Dosunmu) has done too well and played some good basketball for us. We have to find a way to utilize both those guys."
Donovan said he hasn't talked to his medical staff yet about whether or not White will have a minutes restriction. But Donovan didn't think so.
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