Chicago Bulls ban Bobby Portis for punch that put team-mate in hospital

• Nikola Mirotic suffered concussion and broken bones during fight
• Portis will miss first eight games of season after team suspension

The Chicago Bulls have suspended forward Bobby Portis for the first eight games of their season for injuring team-mate Nikola Mirotic during a fight at practice.

“Both players owned responsibility in the incident itself,” said John Paxson, the Bulls’ president of basketball operations. “But only one player threw a punch. And that punch connected and for us that is inexcusable. It’s not who we are. It disappoints us in terms of what happened and because of that we’ve determined that we’re going to suspend Bobby for eight games.”

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