Bobby Portis, Nikola Mirotic having career-best seasons after altercation

CHICAGO _ The upward trajectories of Bobby Portis' and Nikola Mirotic's seasons may be one of the most amazing storylines in yet another wacky NBA season filled with them.

Think about it: After playing well all season as a reserve, including alongside a player he punched in the face to break two facial bones, Portis becomes a starter on Monday. Portis overcame an eight-game suspension for that punch of Mirotic to post career-high statistics virtually across the board.

Meanwhile, Mirotic, who missed 23 games after Portis' aforementioned punch, has helped lead his second team to a seven-game winning streak. When he did so with the Bulls in December, it marked the first time in NBA history a team followed a 10-game losing streak with a seven-game winning streak.

Now with the Pelicans, it's actually hurting his former team, which received a top-five protected first-round pick in this June's draft in their February trade of Mirotic. The better the Pelicans play, the lower that pick drops for the Bulls.

Entering Sunday's game against the Mavericks, Mirotic had averaged 14 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting 27.8 percent from 3-point range in 10 games and 32.1 minutes per game for the Pelicans. Contrast that with his averages of 16.8 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 42.9 percent from 3-point range in 25 games and 24.9 minutes for the Bulls.

Even with Mirotic's dips in scoring and shooting, he, like Portis, is having a career-best season. Nobody could've predicted either scenario on Oct. 17, the day of the altercation.

"The way everything was handled with (Portis) and Niko able to put it behind them and not affect the team in a negative way is very admirable," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. "They had a professionalism about things."