The 2017-18 NBA season has just barely begun and already the Chicago Bulls have suffered a devastating loss. Bulls forward Bobby Portis punched forward Nikola Mirotic – breaking bones in Mirotic's face. This is a double whammy for a team who was trying to find an identity after breaking apart their roster from last year.

Mirotic, who had fallen out of the rotation last year, has figured to be a key part of the new look Bulls. Last season he averaged 10 points in 70 games and 24 minutes last year. The Montenegro center was a restricted free agent who re-signed with the Bulls in the off-season

The Bulls will also surely lose Bobby Portis, who they had hoped would finally be a contributor to the team. Portis averaged 7 points a game in both his NBA season in spot minutes. Portis will be suspended, but for how long remains a mystery, but it is likely to be a lengthy suspension.

The loss of two key players for the Bulls is just part of the storyline for the team this year, who has already lost Jimmy Butler, Rajon Rondo and Dwayne Wade. The Bulls will also be without Zach Lavine for a period as he recovers from an ACL tear.

Judging by players who have suffered facial injuries like Mirotic suffered, there is a good possibility that he could be back within a month. But that month will be the first month of the season, a vitally important time to help teams develop chemistry and set the tone for their season.

Portis may suffer a much worse fate than Mirotic. The Bulls could opt for instead of a suspension to flat out release Portis. This incident would look bad on Portis and scare other teams away, effectively ending his career.

Despite this, NBA Betting information page for the 2017/18 season shows that this did little to change the overall NBA betting odds for the Chicago Bulls as the Bulls were not expect to be an NBA title contender. The Bulls opened up with 100-to-1 odds to win the title, but that has dropped to 1000-to-1 odds to; comparatively, the Golden State Warriors have the best odds at 5-to-12 odds to win the 2017 NBA title.

This is also another black-eye for a franchise which just cannot recover from the Michael Jordan era. Every time the Bulls get something good going, fate seems to intervene and ruin the team. From the failure of Elton Brand to become a superstar, to Jay Williams and Derrick Rose franchise changing injuries: it's been a hard time to be a Bulls fan post Jordan.