While the Bulls were posing for their team picture Monday morning, they had no idea team captain Charles Oakley was filing a police report after being robbed of roughly $50,000 in watches and other valuables.

Oakley, 38, told police the theft occurred early Sunday morning while he was at Paje, a restaurant/nightclub located at 1332 N. Milwaukee in Wicker Park.

A limousine dropped off Oakley at 2:30 a.m., after which three men and a woman approached the female driver of the Midway Limousine Service car and told her Oakley said she could drive them to the Holiday Inn-Downtown West Loop hotel at Harrison and Canal, said Sgt. Eddie Johnson, a detective in the Area 4 property crimes division.

The driver took her four passengers, who appeared to be in their mid-20s, downtown and returned to the club, which Oakley left at about 3:30 a.m., the police report said.

Oakley then noticed he was missing a Gucci bag that contained a $30,000 Franck Muller watch, a $16,000 Cartier watch, three cellular phones and a DVD player.

''I spent the day filling out police reports,'' Oakley said. ''The limo people claimed somebody broke in and stole the bag.''

Franck Muller watches are popular among basketball's aristocracy. Last summer, Michael Jordan reportedly gave his wife, Juanita, a sapphire-and-diamond Muller watch for her birthday.

The limo driver refused to comment, and Johnson said police were trying to track down the thieves.

It has been a rough season for Oakley, who was fined $50,000 by the Bulls on Nov. 9 for criticizing team management. Oakley also was fined $10,000 and suspended for two games (costing him an additional $178,049) by the NBA after participating in a fight with Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal on Jan. 12.

The 6-9, 245-pound Oakley, who is making $7.3million this season, could be fined for an unexcused absence from practice. Neither coach Bill Cartwright nor operations chief Jerry Krause had heard from Oakley as of late Monday afternoon, but when Oakley explains what he was doing, it's unlikely a penalty will be imposed.

''I called a trainer,'' Oakley said. ''What's the big deal?''

Oakley is often the first player at practice and the last to leave, and Cartwright said it was unusual for Oakley to miss a practice without notification.