10 Biggest Surprises of the New NBA Season

#6 The Fight Between Portis and Mirotic

The Fight Between Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic put a dark cloud over the Bulls' even before their season began

The morning of Oct 17, just hours before the NBA Season was to begin, an incident inside the Chicago Bulls' practice facility sent shockwaves through the NBA. Per a report from ESPN :

The players had been talking trash to one another in practice, going back and forth before those exchanges escalated into a physical encounter, league sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Mirotic charged at Portis twice before Portis threw a punch and connected with Mirotic's face, league sources said. Mirotic dropped to the floor and lay there for several minutes before getting up, league sources said.

Mirotic was left with a fractured face and a concussion and he hasn't made his debut this season yet. Portis was suspended for 8 games. He later apologized for his actions to his teammates, the Bulls' fans and more importantly to Mirotic. However, Mirotic has yet to accept Portis' apology, even though Portis has reached out to him a few more times. Mirotic has also demanded that the organization trade one of them. However, members of the locker room prefer Portis over Mirotic, according to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times.

“This is Niko’s problem now,” one player told the Sun-Times when asked about the situation. The Bulls players see what Portis did as wrong, but they’ve also seen that he’s tried to make amends with Mirotic despite his efforts being rebuffed.

Along with his initial apology, the report said, Portis has reached out to Mirotic via text and in a phone message but never received a response. The only thing Mirotic has done so far is demand that one of the two be traded, according to reports.