Lonzo Ball, the long-injured veteran 3-and-D point guard who hasn’t played since January 2022, remains with the Chicago Bulls. The 6-foot-6 UCLA product underwent three surgeries on his left knee but eventually progressed to five-on-five workouts this summer.
Chicago could have found a way to waive Ball’s contract, but that would have required the team to pay more money for additional players on the roster. And the Reinsdorf family would absolutely hate that. Instead, he’s been cashing checks for the past two and a half years. Luckily for Bulls fans, Ball is in the final season of his contract.
When healthy, Ball was an exceptional two-way playmaker. The Los Angeles Lakers selected him with the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, but he was ultimately sent to the New Orleans Pelicans in LA’s trade to acquire Anthony Davis. In his two seasons in Los Angeles, Ball played in just 99 games (95 starts), averaging 10.0 points while posting .380/.315/.437 averages, 6.4 assists, 6.2 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 0.6 blocks.
Ball then signed with the Bulls as a free agent in 2021-22, averaging 13.0 points on a .432/.423/.750 hitting line, plus 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.9 blocks per night.
In a new conversation with Longtime basketball insider Marc Stein talks about basketball’s SubstackFormer two-time Orlando Magic All-Star Nikola Vucevic, now Ball’s teammate with the Bulls, unpacked Ball’s comeback effort.
“I heard he looked good … he’s doing everything he can to get back,” Vucevic said. “I’m looking forward to seeing him back on the field when we get back to Chicago, see how everything goes. I really hope he can play and be back. I can’t imagine, especially at that age (26), having to miss two and a half years. It was very difficult for him to deal with different treatments, surgeries and all that. It’s a long road to get back and so, I really hope for him that it pays off and he can play again. He’s going to mean a lot to our team because of his talent and all that.”
Vucevic appreciated Ball’s contributions before the knee surgeries. Coby White is now very clearly Chicago’s starting point guard going forward. If healthy, Ball appears ready to step into a backup role. If he can string together games healthy.
“When he was playing, we were playing a lot better. He was a big part of our game, his defense and his ability to score. He was a big part of our performance. He was a big back and that was important to us, so losing him was a little bit tricky,” Vucevic continued. “It wasn’t an injury that we knew how long he was going to be out for. We were always waiting. And then we knew from the beginning of the year that he was going to be out.”
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