Chicago Bulls fans should temper their expectation for point guard Lonzo Ball this season. Ball is expected to make his return to the court on Wednesday for the Bulls’ preseason game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Ball hasn’t played in an NBA game, preseason or otherwise, since Jan. 14, 2022. Ball has had to rehab from multiple knee surgeries. He’s been ramping up at practice during the preseason, but the 26-year-old was held out of the team’s shootaround on Saturday.
Lonzo Ball will not be the same
Fortunately for Ball, he was available at the Bulls shootaround on Wednesday, but he offered a troubling take on his prospects in the NBA.
“It’s not the same body I started off with,” Ball said via Jamal Collier of ESPN. “But I think I can still be productive and effective on the court. That’s why I’m still trying to play.”
Ball was having his best-ever shooting year for the Bulls during the 2021-22 season when he suffered the career-changing injury.
The Chicago Bulls will have to workaround Ball’s soreness
Ball explained that the soreness that kept him out of Saturday’s shootaround is expected to come and go throughout the season. Chicago will have to manage his workload because of it.
“We have a good handle right now, but I think it’s going to change throughout the year,” Ball said. “Every day is going to be a different challenge we just have to overcome.”
Ball is in the last year of his contract with the Bulls. He won’t be the same player in the season he stands to earn $21.3 million as he was when he first signed a four-year deal worth $80 million for the New Orleans Pelicans.
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