Silent since the trade of Luol Deng, Joakim Noah broke his silence on Saturday. Constrained by the clause requiring NBA players to answer questions from the press on pain of being punished, the pivot of Chicago Bulls says the absence of “his brother” is difficult “to digest”.

Accomplice with Luol Deng before the exchange sends the All Star winger to Cleveland, Jaokim Noah did not hide that “This trade is clearly painful (…) I am confident of this team, and we all do our utmost to move forward. Everyone says that the NBA is a business, but for me it’s more than that. I give everything I have in me, and Luol is like me. This is why it is difficult to digest,” he has said at a press conference.

With the injury of Rose and the transfer of Deng, Jooks who took control of the franchise in Illinois wants to turn the Luol page off “(…) everyone does his job in this franchise, and I do not blame anyone. I do not blame the leaders. It’s just that my brother is gone … and I’m will need a little more time to digest it.”

On the night of Saturday to Sunday, the All Star pivot led the Bulls to a 5th straight win.