Bulls' Gibson undergoes ankle surgery, estimated to return around training camp

In a surprising but not-so-surprising development, the Chicago Bulls announced that power forward Taj Gibson underwent surgery on his left ankle on Tuesday. His estimated recovery time is four months, which puts his return to basketball activity in mid-October, during training camp.

The arthroscopic procedure comes after a season in which Gibson dealt with ankle issues throughout. Since 2012, Gibson has sprained his left ankle at least four times, forcing him to miss a chunk of games as well as the USA Basketball Select camp.

In total, he missed 20 games with combined ailments last season. The third man in the rotation of Bulls bigs, Gibson averaged 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds.

Gibson was ejected from Game 5 of Chicago's second-round loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers after picking up a Flagrant-2 for kicking Matthew Dellavedova, and then played only 15 minutes in the Bulls' Game 6 elimination defeat.