Bulls' Jimmy Butler To Have Injured Left Knee Evaluated By Dr. James Andrews

(CBS) An injured left knee that continues to bother Bulls wing Jimmy Butler appears to have taken a more serious turn.

Butler will visit the renowned Dr. James Andrews on Thursday morning to have his knee evaluated and get a second opinion, coach Fred Hoiberg said Wednesday. While the swelling has subsided, Butler continues to have pain in the knee, Hoiberg said. Butler's been ruled out of Thursday's road game against the Spurs. He got a few shots up and got a workout in at Wednesday's practice.

Asked if it was Butler's idea to visit Andrews, Hoiberg responded "yeah" and added the team agreed. To date, the MRIs that Butler's had have found no structural damage, Hoiberg said.

His injured left knee has cost Butler 13 games this season. He suffered what the team termed a strained left knee on Feb. 5 and missed the next 11 games. He returned Saturday to score 24 points and grab 11 rebounds against the Rockets, playing 34 minutes, including 21 in the first half.

Butler was then a late scratch Monday against the Bucks after experiencing left knee swelling throughout the day.

"The swelling's pretty much gone now," Hoiberg said. "It's just that he's got a little bit of pain on the back of that knee, and we just want to be safe with it."

Butler's tied for the NBA lead in minutes per game and was the league leader each of the past two seasons. On Tuesday, Hoiberg defended the team's handling of Butler's return.

"We didn't just throw him out there and say, 'OK, let's see how you do,'" Hoiberg said. "We put a lot of time and effort into seeing how he'd feel."

Butler signed a five-year, $92-million contract last offseason that made him the franchise player. He's averaging a team-high 22.4 points per game and has been an All-Star each of the past two seasons, though he didn't play in this year's contest because of his injured knee.