Bulls Rookie Noa Essengue Opens Up About Shoulder Injury Timeline. Rookie years in the NBA can often be up-and-down, as 18- and 19-year-old players adjust to playing basketball against fully-developed adults. Growing pains are a frustrating, but necessary, part of almost all successful athletes' careers. The worst thing for a young player's development is for them not to be on the floor at all. Unfortunately for the Bulls, that was the exact reality for rookie forward Noa Essengue. Chicago selected Essengue with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-9 wing out of Orléans, France, played just six minutes and appeared in two games at the NBA level before going down with a season-ending shoulder injury. It was an incredibly disappointing end to the French rookie's inaugural NBA season, as Essengue never truly got a chance to show what he could do. Essengue revealed during a recorded conversation with former Bulls center Joakim Noah on Wednesday that his shoulder problems actually dated back way before Chicago drafted him last June. 'I had shoulder surgery in December, so I had been playing with an injury for three years,' Essengue said in French, as translated to English by the Chicago Bulls' YouTube subtitles. 'But you've played basketball, you know what it's like when you have goals in life. You tell yourself as long as it doesn't crack, you keep going and you push as hard as you can. That's what I tried to do. I knew I had the draft in mind, so I just wanted to keep playing.' Essengue started his NBA career in the G League, playing for the affiliate Windy City Bulls. In four appearances, Essengue averaged 23.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. He also shot 50.8% from the floor, but just 23.8% from deep. The first-round pick made his NBA debut on Nov. 22, going 0-of-1 on triples in a one-point win over the Wizards. He then recorded one steal, one personal foul and missed both of his shot attempts during the next game on Nov. 24, a 13-point loss to the Pelicans. In all, Essengue combined to log six minutes and two seconds of playing time before the Bulls' medical team shut him down for the year. 'This year, I injured my shoulder again at the beginning of the year,' Essengue said. 'But in reality, I knew that I was going to have to have surgery one day or another, and the team doctors told me that it was the best time to do it. That way, you have your first year to prepare physically, see the game and be around the team, but above all, take time for yourself.' Essengue's desire to play through pain is understandable, but the extent of the injury does raise questions about the Bulls' medical evaluation process. If Essengue had truly been battling the same shoulder injury for two years before Chicago drafted him, does that mean the often-criticized Bulls medical team was somehow unable to uncover the ailment? Or did the Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley-led front office deem that Essengue's injury history was worth the risk to draft him, given the player he might become? It's far too early to make any declarations regarding Essengue's future career in Chicago, but there may not be another Bulls player with a bigger spotlight on him this fall than Noa Essengue.