Chicago — In his opening remarks at Bulls media day on Sept. 24, executive vice president John Paxson offered words he would love to use now.

“What’s exciting is we’re healthy,” Paxson said that day.

That day seems like ages — not four weeks — ago.

Saddled with an 0-3 record, the Bulls’ injury news moved from bad to worse Tuesday when coach Fred Hoiberg revealed New London's Kris Dunn will miss 4-6 weeks with a sprained MCL in his left knee.

The Bulls already are without Lauri Markkanen until at least mid-November with an elbow injury he suffered the first week of training camp. Denzel Valentine has yet to play and is out at least another two weeks with a sprained left ankle.

But given the lack of proven depth behind Dunn, one could argue this is the most significant blow, even if Markkanen’s ceiling is higher. Hoiberg said the pressure to replace Dunn will fall on Cameron Payne, Ryan Arcidiacono and newly signed Shaquille Harrison.

Hoiberg didn’t mention Tyler Ulis, but he could be forgiven.

“I’m still processing everything,” Hoiberg said, addressing reporters minutes after getting the news himself.

Hoiberg said Dunn suffered the injury during the second quarter of the Bulls’ loss to the Mavericks in Dallas on Monday. That game marked Dunn’s season debut after he missed the first two games to paternity leave.

Hoiberg said Dunn underwent evaluation at halftime and checked out well enough to finish the game. A postgame evaluation by Mavericks team physicians — it’s standard protocol in the NBA for the home team’s medical personnel to become involved — led to the recommendation for a Tuesday morning precautionary MRI.

“We obviously missed Kris in our first two games. Now to have him out of the lineup for an extended period, it’s extremely difficult,” Hoiberg said. “When you have a guy who really made strides over the course of last season and the summer he had and the way he played during training camp, it’s difficult. Same obviously goes with Lauri with the summer he had.

“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. It’s next man up, ready to go. It gives guys great opportunity to show what they can do.”

Nevertheless, team officials had painted this second season of the rebuild as an opportunity for the returns from the June 2017 Jimmy Butler trade to form chemistry and offer direction for the future of the franchise. Last season, thanks to LaVine returning from left ACL rehab and Dunn suffering two significant injuries that included a concussion, that threesome played just 255 minutes together.

If Dunn is out four weeks, he would miss 14 games. If he sits six, he would miss 22 games. So perhaps by December, LaVine, Dunn and Markkanen will be up and running together.

By then, who knows what the Bulls’ record will be?

Paxson declared at the conclusion of last season that he wouldn’t sit through another season in which draft lottery positioning is the focus. But with Dunn’s injury piling on top of the others and draft lottery reform evening odds for the No. 1 pick for the worst-three teams, perhaps that stance will change.

Everything is on the table now that Dunn joins Markkanen and Valentine on the shelf.

It’s Hoiberg’s job to focus small picture, as in guiding the Bulls into the victory column on Wednesday against the Hornets.

“Cam had his best game of maybe his career a couple games ago against Detroit. He has some things he can build on,” Hoiberg said. “The biggest thing at that position is you have to get us organized at both ends of the floor. That’s where Kris had taken a big step in the right direction with that. Arcidiacono is one of the better communicators and hardest-playing guys on our team. We’ve got guys who have some starting experience. It’s big shoes to fill. But I’m confident our guys will give great effort.”