Bulls’ Portis publicly apologizes to teammate he punched

CHICAGO (AP) — Suspended Bulls forward Bobby Portis offered an apology to injured teammate Niko Mirotic on Saturday in his first public comments since punching Mirotic in the face in practice on Tuesday.

The fight cost the Bulls their top two power forwards. Mirotic suffered two fractured bones and a concussion and is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks. Portis was suspended eight games.

Portis said before Chicago’s home opener against the Spurs that he has reached out to Mirotic but has not received a response.

“I’m wrong for what I did,” Portis said. “I want to publicly apologize to Niko. I feel like I let my fans, the Bulls organization and most importantly my teammates down. This is not who Bobby Portis is.

“Going forward, I want to make sure that me and Niko are cool and that we can be teammates again. I’m pretty sure we can. We just have to repair the relationship.”