About an hour before tip-off of Friday night's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the United Center, I asked coach Vinny Del Negro if it was safe to assume Luol Deng was out for Saturday's game at Philadelphia.

That's when Del Negro dropped the news that Deng won't be playing any time soon -- if at all the remainder of this season.

"Luol is gonna be out two to three weeks probably," Del Negro said. "Luol's gonna be out a while."

As I reported from Dallas on Thursday, Deng was limping noticeably after working out before the game.

"[Deng] tried to warm up a little bit against Dallas," Del Negro said. "He was feeling better every day and thought he was getting close and then he started doing some straight ahead jogging and it really swelled up on him, so it's gonna be two or three weeks. Hopefully, two, but he has more inflammation now than he had before, so that's a setback. He's definitely gonna be out for a little bit."

If Deng is sidelined three weeks, that means he could return for the final five days of the regular season. But it's just as likely he'll miss the rest of the regular season.