The Chicago Bulls have been without Lonzo Ball since January 2022 and they will continue to be without their starting point guard, as the former second overall pick is prepared to miss his second consecutive season due to ongoing knee problems.
Bulls guard Lonzo Ball (knee) confirms that he will miss the 2023-24 NBA season.
(via "From the Point by Trae Young") pic.twitter.com/rz3LiBYYyc
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 21, 2023
While talking with Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young on the “From the Point by Trae Young” podcast, Ball confirmed that he would miss the 2023-24 season as he continues to rehab from a third surgery he had done on his left knee in March.
“I just had a really big surgery and hopefully this is the last one I'll have to get. It's a long process and I'm already out this whole next season,” Ball told Young. “We have a plan, I am on track and hopefully it works out.”
Ball, 25, last played for the Bulls on January 14, 2022 against the Golden State Warriors. He left this game early due to left knee discomfort and it was later revealed that he was dealing with a bone bruise and small meniscus tear. At first, he was expected to return closer to the start of the postseason, but Ball was still experiencing pain in his left knee, which forced him to restart his rehab process and the team shut him down for the remainder of the year.
Continuing to deal with pain throughout his strengthen program and in every day exercises, Ball underwent a second surgery in September 2022. There was a belief following this second surgery that he would be able to resume on-court activities after the new year, but that did not happen. Unable to perform simple tasks like jumping and walking up stairs, Ball elected to have a cartilage transplant surgery on his left knee in March 2023, a procedure that was said to be his best chance of possible resuming his NBA career.
At this point, there are no indications as to when Ball could possibly return to the floor for the Bulls, but it will not be during or before the conclusion of the 2023-24 NBA season.
With Ball on the floor, the Bulls looked to be a real threat in the Eastern Conference, Before his final game during the 2021-22 season, Chicago held a 27-12 record, which had them at the top of the conference standings. Including the game where he left early, they went on finish the year 19-24. Since Ball's initial injury, the Bulls have gone 59-65 as an organization, failing to miss the playoffs this past year.
As for his status with the team, Ball claimed that his time on the floor with Chicago could not have been going better at the time of the injury, which is why he feels bad for what has occurred.
“It’s gonna be a big ‘what if?' I mean, for me, I feel bad, especially for the GM,” Ball said. “I feel like they made the perfect team around me, and I felt like I was involved. It was the most I’ve ever been involved in an organization. I finally got the perfect team that I felt fit my game and played my way. Really just do what I wanted to do.
“That injury, you know I'm still going through right now, but that one messed me up early just because we really had a chance and never got to see what is was.”
Once thought to be one of the next faces of the NBA, Lonzo Ball now faces a scenario where he is just hoping to be able to play another game.
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