Ayo Dosunmu earning more trust with the Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls have a special player on their hands with former Illinois basketball star, Ayo Dosunmu.

Throughout much of the 2021-22 campaign, the Bulls have dealt with injuries and health and safety protocols. This makes having a solid reserve like Ayo so much more valuable.

Chicago currently sits with a 30-17 record overall and is the second-best team in the Eastern Conference. Ayo has been a big part of the Bulls’ resurgence, as he has averaged 7.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 22.8 minutes per game mostly off the bench this season.

Those numbers don’t tell the whole story, though. The Chicago native has really started to blossom as of late.

The Chicago Bulls continue to trust Ayo Dosunmu on the court.

It has to be hard to trust a rookie guard, especially considering the Bulls are in the running for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. But the team continues to lengthen the leash they have on the budding superstar.

In the past seven games, Ayo has played at least 34 minutes in each contest and has put up some big numbers. He is averaging 13.9 points, 6.0 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game during this stretch.

The shorthanded Bulls have been put in a position where they need to start Ayo on a more consistent basis now as well. Both Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso are out 6-8 weeks with different injuries, so that puts their return timetable somewhere around mid-March, at the earliest.

While we all wish Ball and Caruso a healthy return, what does their absence mean for Ayo? More playing time.

In this past victory over the Toronto Raptors, Ayo received 38 minutes, which is tied for a team-high with Zach LaVine. Ayo didn’t have his best game, only scoring seven points on 3-of-10 shooting, but he did lead the team in box plus-minus at +20 for the game.

Playing winning basketball isn’t about putting up the most points on the team. That is the role of LaVine and Damar DeRozan. That isn’t Ayo’s role. His role is to make everyone around him better. He is that Swiss Army Knife for the Bulls.

Ayo is putting his fingerprints on the Bulls squad. He has led the team in assists in five out of the past seven games. The team has won three out of their last five games as well.

The Bulls have dealt with a lot of adversity this season. Injuries and health and safety protocols have struck at various times. But, thankfully, they have a player like Ayo who can come in and do whatever the team needs him to do.