Luol Deng injury: Bulls guard plays through hurt shoulder

Luol Deng scored a season-high 29 points on Friday in a win over the New York Knicks, but the Chicago Bulls forward also injured his shoulder during the game. In fact, according to Aggrey Sam of Comcast Sports Net, the injury was severe enough that Deng considered skipping Saturday's game against the Atlanta Hawks, although he decided to play through it.

"I played, so that's all that matters. I was worried about, even to start the game and I thought it took a little bit of my aggressiveness away," Deng told Sam, also noting that he was "a little shy of contact" Saturday. "It's not worse now than it was before, so that's a good sign. I'm not even trying to hide anything. I can't explain exactly what it is. It's more than a stinger. It's a sprained something. I don't know exactly."

Deng had 11 points and shot 5 for 14 in 34 minutes in the 92-75 loss to the Hawks. It is unclear how long it will take the injury to heal.