Chicago Bulls forward and former Arkansas hoops star Bobby Portis surprised his mom with a new home Sunday for Mother’s Day. His mother, Tina Edwards, thought she was going to the house in Maumelle for a meeting. But when she and her son stepped through the front door, he handed her a box with a ribbon on it. Inside the box was the key to the house.
Position: F-C
Born: 02/10/95
Height: 6-10 / 2.08
Weight:235 lbs. / 106.6 kg.
Salary: $1,516,320
Born: 02/10/95
Height: 6-10 / 2.08
Weight:235 lbs. / 106.6 kg.
Salary: $1,516,320
Once Mirotic got closer to returning, he had to watch from an exercise machine above the Bulls’ practice court as Portis continued working out with his teammates in between games. The iciness between the two teammates took a toll on everyone within the organization. “I know everyone says I’m the bad guy, I hit him,” Portis said. “But it was hard for me personally because I couldn’t play basketball, I had to stay away, I couldn’t come in the gym certain hours because Niko had to come in the gym. It was just a difficult situation all around because I feel like I was isolated, too.”
While multiple teammates publicly acknowledged that Portis shouldn’t have hit Mirotic, they, along with coach Fred Hoiberg and executive vice president John Paxson, stood behind Portis in saying he was a good teammate who had made a mistake. “The thing with Bobby was we had to find a way to move on, to get past it,” Hoiberg said. “It was tough. I know how bad he felt after the incident. Was it a little awkward when everybody got back in the gym? Yeah, it was a little bit. But again, they found a way to put it behind them, and Niko deserves a ton of credit for handling everything the way he did and finding a way to come out and play the best basketball of his career, and Bobby, as well.”
Edwards was hoping to get a chance to speak to Mirotic during a moms trip the Bulls organized during a road trip to New York City in January, but the pair never crossed paths. “I would have loved to talk to him,” Edwards said. “Because me, personally, I’ve been in situations — I don’t hold grudges, and I hope he never holds a grudge against BP or any aspect of whatever stuff happened.”
Portis, whom The Athletic reported will finally share his side in a piece for The Player’s Tribune, drew an eight-game team suspension. “I felt he wasn’t maybe very happy,” Mirotic said of Portis after Mirotic beat him out for the starting power forward job in training camp. “It’s not a great moment to talk about. We all make mistakes. I think like Bobby said when he apologized that he made a mistake. And I’m going to stay with the good memories. We kind of fixed it by playing. When I came back, we started winning. We both played together great. Trust me, looking back, I said I did forgive Bobby. I’m not here to judge or try to get back with what happened. I’m cool and trying to be focused to play my best basketball. I’m trying to enjoy this great moment.”
Jay King: Marcus Morris said he thought Bobby Portis entered his space. He shoved Portis. Thought the refs overreacted from there. “They’re doing too much by just throwing guys out of the game.”
