Chicago-Native Alfonzo McKinnie Just Looks Happy to be Here

In the midst of an NBA season that has turned out to be more chaotic than Benny the Bull in a china shop (broken vases and popcorn everywhere), I think we all need a feel-good story. (UW-Green Bay alumnus) Alfonzo McKinnie has been nothing but a pleasant surprise since joining the Bulls on a 10-day hardship exemption back on December 10th. He flew to Miami and immediately played 29 minutes for the depleted team and followed that up with 17 minutes in the Bulls bounce-back win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. The Bulls saw all they needed to hand the veteran forward a second 10-day contract, one that he signed before a big-time outing against the Houston Rockets on Monday.McKinnie scored 16 points in his 29 minutes of action, which was his most since October 29, 2018 when he played for the Golden State Warriors. He also tied his career-high with four buckets from downtown, showing the Bulls he’s plenty comfortable wearing red.

“I feel like I played pretty well,” McKinnie laughed. “My main goal is to come in with any opportunity and come in an take full advantage of it, no matter what it is. I just want to go out each night, whenever my number is called, go out and put in max effort.”

Considering McKinnie grew up just minutes away from the United Center, it’s hard to be shocked by his comfortable demeanor. The 6’8″ forward played his first couple of seasons of high school basketball at Curie before finishing at Marshall. McKinnie then took a trip to Eastern Illinois University before transferring to play at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He grew up an underdog, someone playing at midmajors for five seasons before briefly bouncing around the international circuit.

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