Chicago Bulls forward Bobby Portis was remorseful in his first public comments since injuring teammate Nikola Mirotic in a fight during practice.
Portis said he had reached out to Mirotic to apologize, issued a public apology, and ducked questions as to who the aggressor in the altercation was.
Bobby Portis apologized. Said he has texted Mirotic but got no response. Wouldn’t get into whether Mirotic was an aggressor.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 21, 2017
Portis: “I want to make sure me and Niko are cool. I’m pretty sure we can move past this.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 21, 2017
Portis:"I’m wrong for what I did. I want to publicly apologize to Niko. I feel I let my fans, the Bulls organization and my teammates down"
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 21, 2017
Did Portis feel Mirotic acted as an aggressor in incident? "We’re just competing. Things happen."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 21, 2017
Portis on Niko talk: "It hasn't been arranged but I'm pretty sure it will be a gentle conversation. And I'm pretty sure we can get past it."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) October 21, 2017
Portis was suspended eight games for his actions, though at least one report indicated that he was not the one who started it.
