The status of point guard Coby White is being closely watched by the Chicago Bulls before their clash with the Washington Wizards visiting on Saturday.

Notably absent in his first game of the season was White in a 126-111 defeat at home against the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday. A minor right hip injury was sustained by the seasoned professional during the 132-129 overtime win against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.

While the Bulls (32-35) hope for a speedy recovery, White is deemed doubtful for the match against Washington (11-55), who have succumbed to losses in their last two outings after back-to-back victories.

In a standout season, White averages 19.5 points and 5.2 assists while ranking second in minutes played (2,425) in the league, behind only teammate DeMar DeRozan (2,452).

“It’s probably going to be when he can start to feel comfortable to get back to playing,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said of White. “All the imaging came back relatively clean. He is dealing with discomfort and soreness there. So it’s just a matter of how quickly and soon he can get over that.”

Holding onto the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference with 15 games left, Chicago is striving to pull itself up after a shaky start to the season with a 5-14 record.

“It’s kind of the position we put ourselves in with the bad start,” Chicago center Nikola Vucevic said. “We definitely dug ourselves a hole.”

Over the previous dozen games, Vucevic has achieved averages of 20.2 points and 10.8 rebounds, shooting 49.3 percent from the field. The Bulls have stumbled in three of their last four games leading up to the encounter with Washington, who is finishing up a four-game road trip.

Falling behind by as much as 24 points, the Wizards suffered a 135-119 defeat to the Houston Rockets on Thursday. Washington’s bench saw Jordan Poole tally 25 points, Deni Avdija with 24, and Kyle Kuzma contributing 23.

Depleted without centers Marvin Bagley III (suffering from a lower back strain) and Richaun Holmes (left big toe sprain), Washington’s availability of Holmes against Chicago is uncertain while Bagley will be sidelined.

Struggling near the basket without both centers, the Wizards had difficulties against Houston.

“We just let guys drive to the rim. No help at the rim. We didn’t do our best tonight at (rotating),” Kuzma said. “They got in transition, they got in the paint, and we suffered for it.”

On Thursday, Washington enlisted 7-foot center Tristan Vukcevic to fortify their frontcourt. This 21-year-old was the Wizards’ second-round pick in the 2023 draft.

Kuzma has boasted averages of 26.1 points and 7.2 rebounds in the last 10 games for Washington, which seemed to be on an upward trajectory with victories over the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat last week.

Following the loss to Houston, Wizards interim coach Brian Keefe maintained an optimistic outlook, despite Houston’s 58.6 percent field goal shooting.

“I don’t think our team has taken a step back. I think we’re in a learning process and a discovery process about our team,” Keefe said. “I liked our fight tonight. We’ve shown good examples in the last five games that we can play high-level defense.”

“Tonight, we didn’t initiate physically to stop the ball and bring over the help, something we’ll address and look at, but each game we’ve got to grow.”