Former DePaul guard Max Strus—who signed a two-way contract with the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 22—sustained a torn ACL and bone bruise to his left knee Saturday in the Windy City Bulls game against the Lakeland Magic at the G League Winter Showcase, the Bulls announced Monday. 

In two appearances for the Chicago Bulls this season, the Hickory Hills native scored five points on 2-for-3 shooting in six minutes of action. But most of his playing time came with the Windy City Bulls in the G League, where Strus averaged 18.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 13 games. 

After playing for DePaul during his last two seasons in college, Strus went undrafted in the 2019 NBA Draft – but he signed a two-way contract with the Boston Celtics on June 21. Strus played in the Summer League for the Celtics, then earned himself a partially guaranteed contract with the Celtics in October. But, three days prior to the start of the season, the Celtics waived Strus – clearing him to sign with the Bulls on the opening day of the 2019-20 season. 

In college, Strus started out playing for Lewis University – a Division II school in Illinois – during his freshman and sophomore seasons, but ended up transferring to DePaul in 2016. After sitting out the 2016-17 season due to NCAA transfer guidelines, Strus made an impact right away through his scoring prowess. 

In his junior season, Strus averaged 16.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and had a game-winning shot to beat Marquette in the first round of the Big East Tournament come up short. The following year, the six-foot-five-inch guard raised his scoring to 20.1 points per game (No. 3 in the Big East) and led the entire conference in minutes per game, 37.4. His most impressive performance came on Senior Day on March 3, when Strus scored a career-high 43 points in a win over St. John’s.

Strus also helped lead the Blue Demons to their first winning season in over a decade, 19 -17 in 2018-19, and came up one win short of winning the CBI championship against South Florida in April. At the end of season, Strus was named to the Big East All-Second Team. 

The Bulls announced Monday that Strus will undergo surgery in about three weeks and is expected to miss eight to 12 months.