Bulls rookie Denzel Valentine out at least 2 weeks with ankle sprain

CHICAGO -- Bulls rookie Denzel Valentine is expected to miss at least two weeks because of a sprained left ankle, coach Fred Hoiberg said after practice Tuesday.

"Denzel, he's doing OK," Hoiberg said. "He's probably going to miss, I'd say conservatively, probably two weeks. (The ankle) is pretty swollen, it swelled up on him right away.

"It's just about getting him right, keeping him engaged with what we're trying to do with adding to our package and trying to get him better as quick as possible."

Valentine, who sprained the ankle during the second half Monday night in a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, wore a small protective brace around the ankle as he walked to meet the media after practice.

"It's a normal sprain," Valentine said. "Just got to let it heal first and then it will be day-to-day. Just trying to rehab it as best I can."

Valentine did not seem too concerned about the injury and seemed comfortable with his initial performance before tweaking his ankle. Valentine scored four points and dished out two assists in 11 minutes.

Hoiberg admitted the injury may stunt Valentine's progression for a little bit as the Bulls continue training camp.

"It is a setback," Hoiberg said. "Hopefully we'll get him back for the last couple exhibition games. I want to play him with the ball in his hands as a primary ball-handler. We've been doing that with him some in practice and he's done a nice job with it.

"He's one of our better instinctive passers and so we'll miss that element. From a game standpoint, for rookies in this league that's where you start getting comfortable. So hope to get him back as soon as possible but we're not going to rush it. Once we get him back, we want to have him back for the rest of the season."

Valentine, the 14th pick in the 2016 draft, said he suffered the same injury during his college career at Michigan State. He tried to keep a positive outlook on his new reality.

"I'm going to lose a little bit of time," Valentine said. "But the good thing about it is all the great equipment and trainers and staff we have. They'll get me back as quickly as I can.

"If I have to play catch-up, I'll just have to play catch-up. But it is what it is now, there's no point in stressing over it. Just got to take the steps I need to do to get healthy."