Chicago Bulls guard Dwyane Wade will undergo an MRI exam on Thursday after leaving his side's 98-91 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies with a sprained right elbow.

The 35-year-old only scored eight points as the Bulls suffered their sixth defeat in seven games on Wednesday, hitting only three of 11 shots before leaving in the fourth quarter.

Wade's team-mate Jimmy Butler missed 11 games in March 2015 with a similar injury, leaving Wade worried after speaking to him.

"I knew it was something a little bit more just because of what I heard," Wade told reporters after the game.

"I tried to play through it a little bit until the pain started getting a little bit more excruciating. I heard a couple of pops.

"My concern level is there are only 14 games left, and I have never had this injury, so I can't say two days, two weeks - I don't know. 

"I know Jimmy had something similar to this before. I talked to him, and I don't like what he had to say about this. That is my concern, is that we are trying to make the playoffs and there are only 14 games left.

"It is my shooting arm too. It is not good pain at all."

Wade is averaging 18.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 30.4 minutes per game in his first season with his hometown Bulls, who are 32-36 and a game out of the Eastern Conference's number eight spot going into Thursday's games.