Chicago Bulls Rumors: Will Derrick Rose be Ready by the Start of the Season?

Ever since his breakout year, Derrick Rose has not been able to catch a break.

The Chicago Bulls guard will be undergoing surgery once again after sustaining a left orbital fracture (fracture in the eye socket) on the very first day of team practices. The timetable for Rose's return will be determined after his surgery on Wednesday.

Based on athletic trainer Jeff Stotts' assessment of NBA injuries, which he wrote in 2014, players who "needed surgery following a facial fracture missed a minimum of five games and an average of 12 games."

If that is the case for Rose, he could be back by the end of October, when the season starts. The Bulls season opener is on Oct. 27 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Rose's teammates weighed in on his latest injury:

"I didn't really see the play to tell you the truth," Jimmy Butler said. "I know he went baseline drift, probably made a pretty athletic play. Hit the corner and then all I saw was him go down."

"Hopefully it'll be fine," said Taj Gibson. "He's tough. But it was just one of those plays in practice where everybody's going hard."

Over the past four seasons, Rose has only played in 100 of 312 regular-season games due to several injuries, such as a torn left ACL, torn meniscus in the right knee and a sprained toe.

Rose is also dealing with a sexual assault case after a woman accused him and his friends of gang raping her in 2013. The accuser stated that the three men had broken into her home. Rose's attorney stated that the sex was consensual and that the woman maintained a friendly relationship with the men afterwards via texts. She also allegedly buzzed Rose and his friends up to her home.

Rose's lawyer is asking for the civil complaint to be thrown out and for all legal fees to be paid back. Rose has maintained his innocence.

"I will be proven innocent," Rose said Monday. "But at the same time, [the suit] hasn't affected anything. It's not true. I take it as motivation. I feel like the devil's just working. I feel like I'm on the right track as far as where I want to be at in my life and the direction I want to go. And I just feel like when you're that focused, people try to take you down, so I'm very confident that I will be proven innocent."

The case has been transferred to U.S. District Court.