Lonzo Ball and the Bulls appear to be heading for a nightmarish scenario to start this season after the star guard’s knee injury helped derail last year’s campaign.
Ball, who missed the final two months of the 2021-22 NBA season, doesn’t sound remotely close to being able to return as training camp opened this week. The 24-year-old told reporters over a Zoom call on Tuesday that doctors are “a bit surprised” about how little progress he’s made recovering from his knee surgery and that he even has pain doing day-to-day activities such as walking up stairs. A second procedure is planned for Wednesday.
“Literally, I really can’t run. I can’t run or jump,” Ball told reporters per NBC Sports Chicago. “There’s a range from, like, 30 to 60 degrees when my knee is bent that I have, like, no force and I can’t, like, catch myself. Until I can do those things, I can’t play.”
The knee surgery the team announced for Wednesday will be Ball’s third since joining the NBA and he will be reevaluated in 4-6 weeks, meaning he will not be ready to start the season.
“From my understanding they’re going in there to see what it is because it’s not necessarily showing up on the MRI,” Ball said. “But it’s clear that there’s something there that’s not right. So they’re going to go in, look at it, and whatever needs to be done is going to be done.’’
Ball averaged 13.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists while shooting 42.3 percent from 3-point range in his first season in Chicago, helping the Bulls to a 27-13 start before they finished 19-23. It appears they have to do without him a bit longer.
“I did rehab, it was getting better, but it was not to a point where I could get out there and run full speed or jump,” Ball said. “So surgery is the next step.”