Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs Chicago Bulls – Game #6

Following a successful road trip, the San Antonio Spurs return to the AT&T Center to take on the Chicago Bulls. The Spurs went 3-1 on their three game road trip, with impressive victories over the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves. Both the Spurs and the Bulls enter tonight’s contest with a record of 3-2 on the season.

San Antonio will hope that they will perform better than they did on opening night. In that game, a home game versus the Charlotte Hornets, the Spurs were dominated and loss by a final score of 129-102.

The Bulls have won two straight games. First, they defeated the Boston Celtics in a very impressive 120-102 win. Their most recent contest was a 124-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

San Antonio Spurs Injury Update

In their last game, the Spurs were without Devin Vassell and Joshua Primo in their 134-122 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves (see the Grades). Unfortunately, both Vassell and Primo will remain out for tonight’s game against the Bulls. Vassell is dealing with knee soreness, while Primo is battling glute spasms. 

San Antonio Spurs Starting Lineup

The Spurs will likely start the same five players that they did last time out: Tre Jones at point guard, Josh Richardson at shooting guard, Keldon Johnson at small forward, Jeremy Sochan at power forward and Jakob Poeltl at center. 

That said, the rotation may be different due to the fact that San Antonio recalled Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley from Austin. Branham, the 20th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, and/or Wesley, the 25th selection, may get minutes.

Last game, head coach Gregg Popovich used a combination of Josh Richardson and Romeo Langford at backup point guard. In preseason, Wesley was the backup point guard when Joshua Primo was sidelined. That’s something we may see again tonight.

DeMar DeRozan Returns

DeMar DeRozan will play his second game back in San Antonio since being traded to the Chicago Bulls in the summer of 2021. This season, the 33-year-old is averaging 24.8 points, 5.4 assists and 4.0 rebounds in 34.0 minutes per game. Those numbers are slightly down from last season, in which he averaged 27.9 points, 4.9 assists and 5.2 rebounds in 36.1 minutes per game.

In his first game back in San Antonio, DeRozan totaled 32 points, eight assists and six rebounds but the Spurs won the game by a final score of 131-122. The Spurs were led by Dejounte Murray with 29 points, 12 assists, nine rebounds and three steals.

Betting Guide: Spurs vs Bulls

The Bulls are favored by five points and the over/under is set at 231.5. With Devin Vassell and Joshua Primo sidelined, it’s difficult to know what to expect from the Spurs. Additionally, while the Spurs are at home, they really struggled in their one other home game this season.

The best bet for this game is taking the over on the point total for Tre Jones. It’s currently at 13.5 points. Jones is averaging 14.0 points this season and should play extended minutes tonight due to Primo being out.