{"id":69639,"date":"2024-03-21T18:07:59","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T22:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=69639"},"modified":"2024-03-21T20:07:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T00:07:29","slug":"chicago-bulls-star-could-return-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/21\/chicago-bulls-star-could-return-next-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Bulls Star Could Return Next Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/balllo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lonzo Ball<\/a> could make his long-awaited return next season, according to Chicago Bulls insider <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportschicago.com\/nba\/chicago-bulls\/bulls-analysis\/bulls-mailbag-demar-derozan-lonzo-ball-patrick-williams-futures\/548805\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">K.C. Johnson<\/a>. The former #2 pick in the 2017 draft has not played an NBA game since January 14th, 2022.<\/p>\n<h2>Chicago Bulls Star Could Return Next Season<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">There\u2019s a \u2018growing buzz\u2019 that Lonzo Ball will play next season, per <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KCJHoop?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@KCJHoop<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s growing buzz from some who talk to Ball that he\u2019ll play next season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>(Via <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/J4NVi4ZfJg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/J4NVi4ZfJg<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/e5rSmzrTMy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/e5rSmzrTMy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheDunkCentral\/status\/1770909295674024361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Bulls Point Guard Could Return Soon<\/h3>\n<p>Johnson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportschicago.com\/nba\/chicago-bulls\/bulls-analysis\/bulls-mailbag-demar-derozan-lonzo-ball-patrick-williams-futures\/548805\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stated in his article<\/a> that there is &#8220;growing buzz&#8221; that the Bulls point guard could return next year.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There\u2019s growing buzz from some who talk to Ball that he\u2019ll play next season&#8230;That optimism needs to be measured against the fact that he hasn\u2019t started taking contact or playing 5-on-5. Everyone associated with the Bulls is rooting for Ball. And the Bulls have to give him one more chance unless they trade him, and there was little interest in his contract when it was included in some preliminary talks leading up to the trade deadline, mostly as part of larger packages. Since Ball is almost guaranteed to pick up his player option, if he can play and the Bulls don\u2019t trade him, he\u2019ll be on the Bulls since their only way out would be to have an independent panel of doctors deem Ball\u2019s injury career-ending.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Lonzo Ball Injury History<\/h3>\n<p>Prior to an unrelenting avalanche of injury setbacks, Ball was in fine form. The guard averaged 13 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 5.1 assists during the 2021-22 season.<\/p>\n<p>The former UCLA star&#8217;s initial diagnosis was a meniscus tear in January of 2022. He underwent surgery and was slated to only miss six-to-eight weeks. However, the Bulls ruled him out for the remainder of the 2021-22 season after Ball experienced pain in his rehabilitation.<\/p>\n<p>Ball underwent arthroscopic debridement surgery in the offseason, and would eventually miss the entirety of the 2022-23 campaign after yet another unsuccessful rehabilitation. Ball received a cartilage transplant in his left knee last March, and was essentially ruled out of the 2023-24 season as well.<\/p>\n<p>Rumors circulated that Ball was contemplating retirement, but his focus never shifted away from returning to the court. Ball appeared on Atlanta Hawks star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a>&#8216;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ros5mIXvFjk\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">From the Point Podcast<\/a> to dispel the rumors surrounding his retirement.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve always loved playing basketball, it&#8217;s just basically something that got taken away from me. It&#8217;s gonna be a whole new joy again. I&#8217;m gonna be hella happy to be back out there. I never took the game for granted, so for me, it&#8217;s just getting your love back&#8230;I just gotta tackle[the injury]head on, and whenever that time comes, I&#8217;m going to be blessed to be back out there doing what I love.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Lonzo Ball Injury Update and Chicago Bulls Future<\/h3>\n<p>The Bulls were finally able to provide a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/09\/chicago-bulls-provide-promising-lonzo-ball-injury-update\/\" target=\"_self\">positive update<\/a> on Ball&#8217;s rehabilitation progress a few weeks ago, when head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/coaches\/donovbi99c.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Billy Donovan<\/a> spoke to the media prior to a game against the Los Angeles Clippers.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;He started running&#8230;Some of the workouts have been really really positive in terms of running, cutting, jumping, doing those things. He&#8217;s progressed into that. Responded well. Some of the things &#8212; not with my own eyes &#8212; the medical guys have shown me is he looks good moving.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ball will be 27 years old once the 2024-25 season starts, and his return could greatly improve the Bulls&#8217; outlook towards the future. Pairing him with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whiteco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coby White<\/a> could form a fearsome backcourt, enabling Chicago to move on from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lavinza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach LaVine<\/a> and\/or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/derozde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeMar DeRozan<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lonzo Ball could make his long-awaited return next season, according to Chicago Bulls insider K.C. Johnson. The former #2 pick in the 2017 draft has not played an NBA game since January 14th, 2022. Chicago Bulls Star Could Return Next Season There\u2019s a \u2018growing buzz\u2019 that Lonzo Ball will play next season, per @KCJHoop \u201cThere\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4773,"featured_media":69646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,8,2,3],"tags":[151,667,4745,202],"class_list":["post-69639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-featured","category-news","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-lonzo-ball","tag-nba-injuries","tag-nba-news"],"modified_by":"Adam Echchaibi","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4773"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}