For the first time since 2021, Lonzo Ball is expected to be a part of training camp.
The Chicago Bulls point guard has been sidelined since January 2022. He’s undergone three separate knee surgeries, with the most recent being a cartilage transplant. Many have doubted whether or not Ball would ever be able to step foot on the NBA court again, but the 26-year-old has made that his mission.
Arturas Karnisovas and Billy Donovan sat down with 670 The Score on Wednesday to touch on many of the season’s hottest storylines. Of course, this included the potential return of Ball. While both sounded eager to see him back on the floor, they were quick to set expectations low.
“We’ve been talking to Zo. Obviously, he’s excited about training camp,” Karnisovas said. “But, again, during training camp we’re going to try to find out the loads that he’s going to have to take … and the grinds on a daily basis will depend on his rotational minutes and his role and how much he’s going to play.”
Billy Donovan refused to define any sort of role that Ball could fill on this year’s team. To be sure, it certainly sounds like the hope will be to include him if the rotation, but what this workload would look like depends entirely on his training camp performance.
“The thing that Arturas mentioned, which is critical, we don’t know how he’s going to respond after games after practice because we haven’t seen it,” Donovan said. “That’s where we first have to start off with. Is it something where he plays 15-20 minutes and has to take the next day off? Can he play 25-30 minutes? How does he respond? The back-to-backs. We don’t know any of those things, so we’re going to wait to find out.”
Karnisovas confirmed that Ball has been participating in five-on-five action since August. He also shared that the guard fell ill and had to pause his training for a week or so, but the expectation remains that he will be ready to go once training camp begins. Whether or not the Bulls allow him to act as a full participant from the jump, however, will be something to track. We can say the same about Ball’s availability in preseason games. Will he appear in every game?
An abundance of caution sounds like it’ll be the strategy with Ball all season long. Donovan even made sure to mention that the organization has Ball’s long-term career aspirations in mind.
“Lonzo loves to play. He loves to play. And, at his age, as much as he loves to play, he wants to play beyond this year, “Donovan said. “So we also have a responsibility to make sure he’s in a position where he can play after this season. Where it’s not one of these things that is not managed correctly or we’re not putting him in a situation to be effective.”
Even if he isn’t a part of the franchise’s future plans, the last thing the Bulls should do is brush Lonzo Ball aside after everything he’s been through. He deserves a chance to revive his NBA career. At the same time, the Bulls have a lot on their plate already with player development and keeping Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic happy. Juggling all these responsibilities isn’t going to be easy.