The Chicago Bulls take on the Miami Heat at FTX Arena on Wednesday night in the 2022-23 season opener for both teams.

The Bulls (46-36 in 2021-22) enter the new season looking to put last spring's highly disappointing and brief postseason run that ended with a first-round ouster in five games behind them. Chicago largely returns the same core that got it to that point, with the one significant offseason addition being veteran big man Andre Drummond. Otherwise, head coach Billy Donovan is hopeful the Big Four of Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic can eventually retake the floor as a unit for the first time since the early part of last season, but they'll first have to wait on Ball, whose recovery from early October knee surgery may ultimately cost him the entire season. In his stead, the likes of Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Goran Dragic will be asked to help fill the void at point guard.

In addition to Ball, the Bulls list LaVine (knee) as questionable and Caruso (calf) as probable on their first injury report of the regular season.

The Heat (53-29) were a Jimmy Butler three-pointer shy of potentially overtaking the Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference crown in June, and they'll also bring back all the main pieces that helped them nearly reach that lofty perch. Jimmy Butler will once again spearhead Miami's attack, with the likes of Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry expected to make important complementary contributions. One important change comes at the forward wing spot, which Butler will vacate in order to handle power forward duties in place of the departed P.J. Tucker. Caleb Martin will open the season as the starter at the three after a strong first season in South Florida that saw him shoot 50.7 percent, including 41.3 percent from behind the arc.

The Heat will be without Victor Oladipo (knee) and Omer Yurtseven (ankle) for Wednesday's game.

The Heat swept the four-game 2021-22 season series from the Bulls.