It has been over two years since Lonzo Ball stepped foot on an NBA court as an active player. One knee problem after another has threatened Ball's career, as it remains unclear if he will ever suit up for the Chicago Bulls again. But in an interview with TMZ, the 26-year-old guard gave Bulls fans a ray of hope amid his continued recovery process from the tore meniscus he suffered in January 2022 that snowballed into a more serious knee complication.
“[Recovery] going well,” the 26-year-old guard said. [Fans can expect] me back on the court. That's all I want to do,” Ball told TMZ.
The injury recovery process has been long and grueling for Lonzo Ball. Ball hasn't played an NBA game since January 14, 2022, when he played 24 minutes of basketball in a 138-96 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Ball tore his meniscus 31 months ago, and it has been a downward spiral for him on the injury front ever since. The Bulls guard went through a total of three surgeries to help correct the issue, including an arthroscopic debridement to clear up debris from his knee in March 2022, and then a follow-up surgery in March 2023 to install a new cartilage in his injured knee after his old cartilage broke down the point where the bones inside his knee were bumping against each other.
While Ball is optimistic about the state of his recovery from injury, it's not quite clear if he'll be healthy enough to suit up for the Bulls come opening night. Chicago will open the 2024-25 regular season on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans on the 23rd of October. With two months and some change left to go from now until then, will Ball receive the greenlight to make his much-anticipated return to the NBA court?
Lonzo Ball's injury halts the Bulls' progress
The Bulls were very aggressive during the 2021 offseason. Facing pressure to compete after trading a ton of good assets to bring in Nikola Vucevic, Chicago went out and got Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan, and Alex Caruso in one offseason — overhauling the team and making them a legitimate playoff squad in the process.
Ball was arguably the perfect fill-in-the-gaps player to have alongside ball-dominant players such as DeRozan, LaVine, and Vucevic. He has exceptional court vision to go with his sublime and creative passing, he can shadow ball-handlers and follow around shooters on the perimeter, and he can knock down his open threes.
With him on the court, the Bulls' record was 22-13 — good for a winning percentage of 62.8 percent. For reference, that is equivalent to a 51-win season — the same win-loss tally as the Los Angeles Clippers had last season and a better one than the eventual NBA Finals runner-up Dallas Mavericks had.
After the Bulls lost Ball, the entire roster didn't have the same two-way balance. As a result, their performance dipped and never recovered. They went 19-23 the rest of the way during the 2021-22 season after they lost Ball for the season, and in the two seasons since, they have gone 79-85 — good for two play-in tournament berths that fell short.
The roster has mostly changed around Ball, with the Bulls embracing a rebuild this offseason. Coby White and Josh Giddey also appear to have a stranglehold on the guard positions, with Zach LaVine still around to command touches. Ball will have to fight for his position once he makes his return, but whatever the case may be, the moment he steps foot on the court will be a major cause for joy among fans.
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