CHICAGO (AFP) - Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose, the injury-plagued former National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player, suffered a left orbital fracture in practice on Tuesday and will undergo surgery on Wednesday, the team announced.

Rose was struck in the face by an elbow during a pre-season workout and taken to a nearby hospital where doctors diagnosed the orbital break.

A timetable for his return to the Bulls will be determined after the operation.

Rose has been hindered by a series of knee injuries since winning the 2011 NBA MVP Award. Since the start of the 2011-12 season, he has played in only 100 regular-season games.

Rose, 26, tore a left knee ligament in the 2012 NBA play-offs and missed the entire 2012-13 season. He suffered a right knee injury in November 2013 that caused him to miss the remainder of the 2013-14 campaign.

Last season, he missed 31 games, some of them due to an operation on his right knee in February.

Rose helped the US squad win the World Championships in 2010 and 2014.

New Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg has already lost Mike Dunleavy Jr, who underwent back surgery last week and is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks.