Essengue Injury Magnifies Karnišovas' Draft Night Decision

Noa Essengue, Chicago Bulls 2025 12th overall pick, will have season-ending surgery. (Destiny Little)

Billy Donovan relayed the news casually on Wednesday, as if to soften the sound of the alarm bells his words would trigger. 

But there was no sugarcoating the pill of Noa Essengue needing season-ending surgery to repair a left shoulder injury. 

“Ultimately, him and his representation, our medical guys, just talking to different doctors, getting him second opinions, presented him the information and I think the recommendation was to get it fixed now rather than waiting because it’s something that can continue to be a problem for him,” said Donovan, who couldn’t provide a diagnosis but believes Essengue will need six-to-seven months to recover from surgery.

“The decision was made (on Wednesday), and I talked to him the other day and felt like it was moving in that direction, but obviously he’s got to own the final decision and I think he has, so he’s going to get it done.”

The revelation that the 18-year-old’s rookie campaign was over before it basically even started was yet another setback for the Chicago Bulls, who raced out to their best start in nearly three decades but are currently in the midst of their second five-game losing streak and warring with the injury bug.

It also fueled the argument against Artūras Karnišovas spending the 12th pick on Essengue when he could’ve used it to move down 11 spots and acquire an unprotected first-round pick from either the New Orleans Pelicans or Milwaukee Bucks next summer.

To be clear, Karnišovas has neither confirmed nor denied being approached with said deal -- nor would he ever. He’s only gone so far as to say, “I don’t know exactly, but they landed one good player” when asked if Pelicans president of basketball operations Joe Dumars offered draft capital to the Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and Bulls for the right to select Derik Queen. 

But Dumars, who eventually found a taker in the Atlanta Hawks, blew his cover.

“We started from nine and went all the way until we got a deal.”

As of today, the Hawks, like the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers, have a 52.1% chance of landing the top pick in a draft that boasts names like Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson, A.J. Dybantsa, Caleb Wilson and Nate Ament. But unlike the Wizards and Pacers, however, they're trending toward picking fifth at worst.

Meanwhile, Essengue, the 6-foot-8, 200-pound project who went scoreless with one assist and one personal foul in six minutes of playing time across two contests, just took a massive step back in his game of catch up. 

“The setback to me in it all,” Donovan said, “is that you’d like for a guy like that, whether it was a limited situation, (to receive) minutes for us or good minutes with the G League to play.”