Billy Donovan on Grayson Allen's Dangerous Foul: 'He Has a History of This'


Allen was ejected in the third quarter for his flagrant foul on Alex Caruso.

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Bulls coach Billy Donovan didn't mince words in his postgame reaction to Grayson Allen's flagrant-2 foul on Alex Caruso last night.

Allen was ejected in the third quarter of the Bulls 94–90 loss to the Bucks after throwing Caruso to the ground during a fast-break opportunity. Caruso's head appeared to bounce off the ground

While Caruso said he only came away with a knock to his wrist, the Bulls announced Saturday that Caruso suffered a fractured wrist that will require surgery, which will keep him out for six to eight weeks.

On Friday, Donovan said the NBA should look further into the foul due to its dangerous nature. 

“To do that to a player is just really wrong,” Donovan said in his postgame press conference, per NBC 5 Chicago. “You could’ve really jeopardized his career in a lot of ways. I don’t know what his response will be to it. 

“Maybe he didn’t mean to do it. I don’t know. I just know the play looked really, really bad on a guy that has a history of doing that all the way back into college. I hope the league takes a hard look at something like that. Because God forbid this guy was in a stretcher going out of the building right now. That would not be good.”

While it was his first NBA ejection, Allen was ejected from a Summer League game in May and has received a flagrant foul in the past. 

Meanwhile, he also has a history of tripping players and other off-ball activities, including his infamous hip-check against rival UNC while at Duke in 2019. 

“For Alex to be in the air like that and for him to take him down like that, you could’ve ended his career,” Donovan said. "And [Allen] has a history of this. And that, to me, was really dangerous. I really hope the league takes a hard at something like that because they could’ve really seriously hurt him.

“... For it to even be extended to a flagrant-2 and be thrown out of the game, clearly the officials must’ve felt there was some intent there the way [Allen] yanked him and snapped him to the floor and [Caruso’s] head bounced off the floor. So a really, really dangerous play.”

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