Kris Dunn has never been one to play with fear, so even though his concussion triggered a three-week recovery period, it didn’t stop him from watching the scary fall against Golden State plenty of times.
Perhaps it was therapeutic or even an exercise in realizing how lucky he was to retain all his teeth but Dunn is on the mend and hopes to be back on the floor soon as he returned to Bulls practice Wednesday afternoon.
“I played football so as long as those were in there, I’m good,” Dunn said.
Dunn has been ruled out for Friday’s game against the Timberwolves, but he hopes to be back before the All-Star break—which is over a week away.
He’ll be wearing braces when he returns, along with a mouthguard, but said he wouldn’t do anything differently the next time he has a breakaway situation.
“Nah, I’m going to go dunk it for sure,” Dunn said. “You can’t be scared when things like this happen. You just have to keep doing what you do.”
Concussion symptoms came and went during the last few weeks, as Dunn has missed the last eight games, with the Bulls losing the last seven. Since the Bulls began their turnaround in early December, Dunn was a catalyst as he claimed the point guard spot.
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He’s averaged 15 points, eight assists and 2.2 steals in his last 21 games, with the Bulls going 13-8 in that span.
He proved his value by his mere absence, although it wasn’t the way he would’ve liked to show it.
“The concussion protocol was a pain,” Dunn said. “When I thought I felt good, it just kept rising some days. I’d go outside, try to take walks and clear my head and it wasn’t doing well. It took awhile but now I’m doing good.”
Depending on how one looks at it, Dunn knew what to expect due to suffering a concussion in summer league shortly after being drafted by the Timberwolves.
“A lot of headaches,” Dunn said. “You’re going to feel fog some days, low energy, fatigue. I never slept so much. In the daytime, you’ll just go to sleep out of nowhere. And then at night, you’ll be up all night. It was tough to get through. I’m just happy to be back.”
“Last week. I just felt fine. I wasn’t doing the things I was doing before. I wasn’t sleeping during the day. I wasn’t getting the headaches during the day or at night. I’m a high energy guy. I like to laugh and all that. And I had that bounce to me. Everybody started to see me getting better. It was just a process of trying to maintain and keeping that energy.”
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said he’ll have to clear one more hurdle before going to the team doctors and being cleared for further activity.
“He hasn't done anything,” Hoiberg said. “His inactivity will prevent him from playing anytime soon. But the important thing is he was able to do some non-contact drills yesterday, he's been on the treadmill, he's completed the bike portion.”