After three knee surgeries and more than two years away from the game, Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball is finally ready to return.
Ball will compete in his first NBA game in more than two years on Wednesday night when the Bulls host the Minnesota Timberwolves in a preseason game. He will be restricted to just 16 minutes maximum in that game, his first since Jan. 14, 2022.
“Long, long,” Ball said of his recovery Wednesday after the team’s shootaround. via Jamal Collier of ESPN. “But looking back, it was a lot faster than I thought… When they told me I had 18 more months of recovery (after my third surgery), it sounded crazy at the time, but now I’m here. “It’s all behind us now.”
Ball suffered a meniscus injury in his left knee in January 2022 and underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair it. However, shortly afterward he began to experience discomfort in his knee and ended up needing another surgery that fall. The Bulls hoped he could return before the end of the 2022-23 campaign, but they shut him down in February 2023. He ended up receiving a third surgery in March, which kept him out all of last season.
In total, Ball has played in just 35 games over the past three years.
Although repeated setbacks and surgeries seem like enough to make someone want to quit the sport entirely, Ball believes he can still help the Bulls win. The former No. 2 overall draft pick averaged 14.6 points, 5.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game with the New Orleans Pelicans during the 2020-21 campaign, which was his last full season.
“It’s not the same body I started with,” Ball said. “But I think I can still be productive and effective on the court. That’s why I keep trying to play.”
It’s unclear how the Bulls will use Ball this season, especially early on as he gets back on track. He has also had knee pain during the preseason. While he said that was expected, it will have to be something both he and the Bulls monitor throughout the season.
“We have a good handle right now, but I think it’s going to change throughout the year,” he said. “Every day will be a different challenge that we’ll just have to overcome.”
He may not be the same player he once was, but Ball is finally playing basketball again. Whatever happens for the rest of his career, this was the first step.
