The Bulls announced Saturday that Alex Caruso will need surgery after fracturing his right wrist on a Flagrant 2 foul by Bucks guard Grayson Allen.
Injury update: Alex Caruso will have surgery early next week and will be re-evaluated in 6-8 weeks after suffering a fractured right wrist in last night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 22, 2023
Caruso was pushing the ball in transition in Chicago’s game against Milwaukee on Friday night when Allen came up to block and tore Caruso’s arm.
Grayson Allen takes a flagrant 2 for a STRONG foul on Alex Caruso pic.twitter.com/NjCJEzo7zu
– Bull Talk (@NBCSBulls) January 22, 2023
Allen was automatically ejected from the game, and Caruso is now expected to miss 6-8 weeks due to the injury he sustained from foul play. This comes as a huge blow to Caruso, who has played a big role as a defensive blocking stopper for the Bulls this season.
The play also adds to a long list of similar antics by the Bucks point guard. Here’s a look back at how Allen earned his dirty reputation.
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Timeline of Grayson Allen’s dirty tricks
For starters, Allen has a five-minute (!) compilation of dirty plays and moments on YouTube from his time at Duke. That just shows there’s a history here.
Duke took several dirty plays to take action, but finally, in 2016, Allen was suspended “indefinitely” after blatantly trying to trip an Elon player while driving to the basket.
This was far from the first instance, it was actually his third tripping incident alone, having already been caught tripping a Louisville player the previous season. He also had a few other low-light moments, like throwing a random hip check on a fast break against North Carolina that resulted in a Flagrant 1 foul.
The embarrassing part is that Allen’s “indefinite” suspension only lasted one game.
You can watch the full five-minute video below.
However, this trend was not squashed once he reached the NBA.
In the 2019 NBA Summer League, Allen was ejected from a game after committing not one, but two flagrant fouls on Celtics forward Grant Williams.
Grayson Allen’s first blatant, for those asking pic.twitter.com/KO9vgPGaSX
— CJ Fogler aka Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) July 12, 2019
It continued into 2020 when Allen and Hawks star guard Trae Young had a back-and-forth Twitter exchange over a play Young deemed dirty.
Damn…tell me what you see!! Smh🤦🏽♂️ this has to stop! #youknowyouknow pic.twitter.com/AgrPR1qRze
—Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) December 27, 2020
Allen didn’t seem to agree with Young’s assessment.
Damn, that must have hurt a lot. Sorry. I hope you are well https://t.co/Uwyl7s2Q2v
—Grayson Allen (@GraysonJAllen) December 27, 2020
Allen didn’t get a chance to address his most recent postgame incident, but Caruso shared his thoughts with the media after the game.
“The guy just caught me in the air. It was kind of bulls,” the Bulls guard said.
Caruso says Grayson Allen’s foul was “bulls**t” pic.twitter.com/d9s0Z2VEVB
– Bull Talk (@NBCSBulls) January 22, 2023
On Saturday, Allen responded via Discord, saying, “It was very unfortunate how it played out. I jumped up to block it with my left and as it spun I went to grab the ball with my right hand so I didn’t throw it. It was a really hard fall and I I’m glad he’s okay. If I could make the play again knowing it would go down like that, I wouldn’t make the play.”
Allen also responded to criticism of former NBA player and current ESPN Richard Jeffersonsaying: “I stood in the middle of the court watching until he got up to see if he was okay. Then when I was back on our bench a teammate made a joke and I laughed. I wasn’t laughing at the lack”.
On Sunday, the NBA announced that Allen will be suspended for just one game as a result of the incident.