Chicago basketball report: Bulls go 2-0 with Zach LaVine back — and will Michael Jordan reunite with Scottie Pippen?

The Chicago Bulls are inching up the Eastern Conference standings as they welcome Zach LaVine back into the fold from his injury absence.

Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and a slew of other notable Bulls alumni will be honored at the inaugural Ring of Honor celebration this week.

And Illinois men’s basketball is facing another legal battle after Terrence Shannon Jr. filed a restraining order to petition for reinstatement amid his arrest in connection with a rape charge in Kansas.

Every Wednesday throughout the season, Tribune writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Bulls, Sky and local basketball.

Zach LaVine returns — and Bulls climb in the East

After nearly six weeks without playing a game, Zach LaVine made his long-awaited return to the court with the Bulls on Friday.

The Bulls are being careful with LaVine after he missed 17 games with a right foot injury, keeping him under a minutes restriction while bringing him off the bench alongside center Nikola Vučević, who is also returning from injury. LaVine outplayed that minutes restriction in Monday’s overtime win against the Charlotte Hornets, logging 36 minutes despite being downgraded to questionable status earlier in the day.

LaVine’s return has been quiet. He tallied 15 points and four assists at home against Charlotte on Friday, then recorded nine points and five assists on the road Monday. He acknowledged that both performances were affected by a loss of endurance, which is expected during a lengthy injury absence.

The Bulls are 2-0 since LaVine returned and have climbed to ninth in the Eastern Conference. They went 5-14 before his injury and 10-7 during his absence. In the final month before the Feb. 8 trade deadline, every performance by LaVine will be carefully analyzed as the Bulls attempt to find a trade market for their maximum contract star.

The Bulls are still easing back toward something resembling a full-force roster. Alex Caruso is in and out of the lineup with neck stiffness after crashing into Trae Young’s leg in a Dec. 26 game against the Atlanta Hawks. Patrick Williams is nursing an ankle sprain that’s been nagging since the Indiana Pacers game on Dec. 28. Torrey Craig is still at least five weeks removed from a return with a sprained plantar fascia in his right foot.

But with LaVine and Vučević back in the rotation, the Bulls can begin to study how their core group operates together — and use that assessment to approach the trade deadline in February.

Terrence Shannon Jr. files a restraining order seeking reinstatement

Suspended Illinois basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr. filed a temporary restraining order against the university Monday, petitioning to be reinstated from an indefinite suspension as he faces a rape charge in Kansas.

Shannon’s attorneys — Mark P. Sutter, Rob Lang, Steve Beckett and Mark Goldenberg — said they filed because their client believes the university did not follow protocols and rushed the decision to suspend.

“We will review the filing and defend our student-athlete misconduct procedures, which allow us to respond swiftly to allegations of misconduct and serious crimes while affording our student-athletes a fair process and waiting for the legal system and university discipline processes to proceed,” Illinois associate chancellor Robin Kaler told The Associated Press.

Shannon was charged with rape on Dec. 5 for an incident that occurred while he was in Kansas for the Illini’s football game in September. An arrest warrant was issued on Dec. 27, and he turned himself in and posted bail on Dec. 28. If convicted of rape, Shannon could face 12 to 54 years in prison. If convicted of battery, he could be fined up to $2,500 and serve up to one year in jail.

Shannon played four games for Illinois after he was charged and before he was suspended from the team on Dec. 28. He is averaging more points per game (21.7), second in the Big Ten behind reigning National Player of the Year Zach Edey of Purdue.

Bulls prepare to host Ring of Honor celebration

The Chicago Bulls will recognize 13 former players, coaches and executives in the inaugural class of the Ring of Honor this week, hosting a gala at the United Center on Thursday and a halftime celebration during Friday’s game against the Golden State Warriors.

The selections for the inaugural Ring of Honor class include Artis Gilmore, Johnny “Red” Kerr, Dick Klein, Jerry Krause, Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, Toni Kukoč, Bob Love, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Jerry Sloan, Chet Walker and Tex Winter. The entirety of the 1995-96 team that won 72 games on the way to a fourth NBA title will also be inducted into the Ring of Honor.

The Bulls have yet to announce the full guest list for the event — or whether the gala will feature a long-awaited reunion between Jordan and Pippen, who have been ensnared in a public feud over the past four years.

Number of week: 5

On Tuesday morning, the five teams slotted fourth through eighth in the East were tied in overall record. All five teams — the Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers — posted a 21-15 record and sat seven games back from the Boston Celtics, who remain first overall in the East.

That equilibrium was immediately disrupted Tuesday night. But that brief moment of leveled records reflected the relative parity at the top of the Eastern Conference — something that could favor the Bulls as they attempt to move up in the standings.

The Bulls still have plenty of work left before they can compete with this next tier of standings competition in the East. They sit five games back from the eighth seed and four games back from returning to .500. But the upcoming stretch of 14 games before the Feb. 8 trade deadline could play in the team’s favor.

From a travel standpoint, this stretch will be brutal. The Bulls play nine of their 14 games on the road before the trade deadline, including two sets of home-and-away back-to-back games.

But from a strength-of-schedule standpoint, the Bulls are in a good position. They face the third-easiest schedule in the Eastern Conference for the rest of the season — and the second-easiest in the NBA over their remaining 14 games before the deadline.

Week ahead: Bulls

•Wednesday: Houston Rockets, 7 p.m., NBC Sports Chicago

•Thursday: Ring of Honor Gala @ United Center

•Friday: Golden State Warriors, 7 p.m., NBC Sports Chicago

•Saturday: @ San Antonio Spurs, 7:30 p.m., NBC Sports Chicago

•Sunday: Off

•Monday: @ Cleveland Cavaliers, 6 p.m., NBC Sports Chicago

•Tuesday: Off

What we’re reading this morning

•Tracking Zach LaVine: Bulls star returns — but what will happen at the NBA trade deadline?

•Should the Bulls include Lonzo Ball in trade packages for Zach LaVine?

•DeMar DeRozan was ranked in early NBA All-Star fan voting. Should his Bulls teammate Coby White join him?

•Zach LaVine embraces a quiet return with the Bulls after missing 17 games — but questions still linger after win

•NCAA agrees to $920 million, 8-year deal with ESPN for women’s March Madness and 39 other championships

•Column: Joey Meyer’s legacy at DePaul was about more than his coaching record

•No. 9 Illinois’ furious late rally comes up just short in an 83-78 loss to No. 1 Purdue

•Who should be selected next for the Bulls’ Ring of Honor? 5 potential choices for the future.

•Alex Caruso isn’t afraid to redefine himself. This season with the Bulls, that meant improving his 3-point shot.

•Can the Bulls afford to keep playing small ball? ‘We’ve got no choice,’ coach Billy Donovan says.

This week in Chicago basketball

Jan. 13, 1999: Michael Jordan retires from the Bulls — again

This time, he really means it. Or so he says. For the second time in less than five years, Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls.

He told a well-attended news conference at the house he built, the United Center, that he’s “99.9% sure” he won’t return after 13 years in the NBA. “It’s not really 100%,” Jordan said, “but it’s close. That’s where I stand. I’m not going to say never. But I will say 99.9.”

Jordan, who first retired in 1993 after the Bulls won the third of their six championships, said this was as good a time as any to hang up the Air Jordans. Over a storybook career he won six championship rings and 10 scoring titles while earning five Most Valuable Player awards and six NBA Finals MVP trophies.

In addition to being remembered as perhaps the greatest player in the history of the game, Jordan sealed his reputation as the preeminent clutch performer by hitting the game-winning basket with 5.2 seconds remaining to give the Bulls their sixth title with an 87-86 victory over the Utah Jazz in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals.

As he did when Jordan retired on Oct. 6, 1993, NBA Commissioner David Stern flew to Chicago to honor Jordan, calling him one of the greatest ambassadors the game has ever seen. Stern, who all but begged Jordan to play at least one more season to help repair the public relations damage caused by the labor dispute, thanked Jordan for a spectacular career that boosted the popularity of the league worldwide.

Of course, Jordan didn’t stay retired. He played for the Washington Wizards from 2001-2003 before finally hanging it up (we think) for good.

Jan. 15, 1925: The Chicago Bruins, the city’s first professional basketball team, lose to the Beloit Fairies 33-29 at the Broadway armory.

The team manager and left guard? George Halas. The rest of the team was comprised of Big Ten Conference captains. They played in the American Basketball League through the 1930-31 season before disbanding.

Quotable

“Imma sleep so well tonight, y’all don’t understand.” — Zach LaVine after his first game back with the Bulls following a 17-game absence due to a right foot injury