Getty Lonzo Ball #2 of the Chicago Bulls is seen on the court.
There is no expectation for the Chicago Bulls to have injured star Lonzo Ball on the floor anytime soon. But they are still closing in on a very important window to make a critical decision on one of last offseason’s key additions.
His impact was clear the moment he was no longer on the floor as the Bulls were 8.6 points worse defensively, per Cleaning the Glass.
That was the fifth-highest differential among players with at least 1000 minutes last season.
The sooner they can get him back the better, but they are taking the long-term approach and won’t rush him back. That makes the next couple of weeks extremely significant in Ball’s eventual return to action at some point this season.
Watch the Ball
Ball has been rehabbing with the team for some time. He was spotted doing lower-body exercises on Monday by Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune who pointed out the significance, perhaps not of the workout, but Ball’s progress in general.
Blurry proof of life
This surgery, the second since January and the third on Ball’s knee overall, is essentially an effort to clean up after the first two. The belief is that loose cartilage was causing issues with a nerve leading to pain that hindered Ball beyond basketball as the point guard spoke of pain when taking stairs.
His father, LaVar Ball recently said that his son was well on his way to recovery.
“They finally got in there and they did his stuff right,” Ball said on ‘Ball Facts’. “He had something that was – some of the debris was caught up with a nerve or something like that in his leg. It wouldn’t allow him to bend it or whatever. He was giving much pain but he got all that situated now…I just came back from seeing my boy to make sure he’s good, stitches is out.”
The Bulls are hoping to get their best two-way player back sometime after New Year’s Day, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Their initial timeline following his procedure also called for “four-to-six weeks”.
That means news could come at any point between Wednesday and November 9. The Bulls will have played the Boston Celtics (twice), Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, and Toronto Raptors (also twice) by then with a tilt versus the New Orleans Pelicans on tap that day.
This is also just a point for evaluation to determine the next steps so that he may return — that actual date remains unclear.
Bulls’ Issues Piling Up
Ball’s absence has been magnified to begin this campaign as the Bulls’ opponents have shot a league-high 46.9% from beyond the arc against them. Conversely, the Bulls themselves rank 29.3% outdoing just the Los Angeles Lakers.
Part of that is they have only had Zach LaVine for one game amid his recovery from offseason surgery – their 128-96 blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the home opener.
LaVine played well with 23 points on 61.3% true shooting, four assists, and three rebounds.
The two-time All-Star hit just two of his three triples but said he felt no worse for wear after the long layoff. Most importantly, his head coach acknowledged that the maintenance routine would likely continue through at least the early portion of the regular season.
LaVine played through the knee injury that led to his surgery for the final 29 games of his campaign.
While he was still in elite company statistically, he was not the same player.
That was particularly true on defense where he showed signs of being more committed following winning gold with Team USA in the Olympics. With his knee still an issue, so is LaVine’s defense which is problematic for the Bulls.
It will be difficult for the Bulls to overcome both the loss of Ball and a diminished LaVine.