Lonzo Ball will not be suiting up for the Chicago Bulls anytime soon.
The Chicago guard will continue to rehab his left knee after receiving his third surgery in 14 months this past March, which will likely keep him off the court for the entirety of the 2023-24 season, The Athletic reported.
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“He’s recovering nicely,” chief basketball executive Artūras Karnišovas said Thursday night.
“I think last month he got off the crutches. He’s recovering, doing his rehab, everything is going well.
“But we’re just going to treat this offseason and getting ready for the season (like) he’s not going to be back next season.”
Following Ball’s last surgery, a cartilage replacement, there were questions about if he was ever going to be able to play again.
Thursday night’s news confirms just how serious the situation is.
Ball’s recovery from a torn meniscus in January 2022 has been nothing short of nightmarish for both the guard and the Bulls franchise.
He never recovered properly from his first surgery and was unable to run or jump before his second surgery, arthroscopic debridement surgery, which also did not help him make enough progress to get back on the court.
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Ball, 25, will now miss two full seasons after signing a four-year, $AUD119 million contract in 2021.
Before injuries derailed his 2021-22 season and his career writ large, he looked like a perfect fit on a rising Bulls team.
Ball averaged 13 points and 5.1 assists with elite 42% 3-point shooting over 35 games with the Bulls, helping the team reach a 25-10 record in those contests along with co-stars Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.
Since Ball’s injury, Chicago’s fortunes have tumbled: the Bulls finished 46-36 in 2022 and lost in the first round of the playoffs, before finishing 40-42 in 2023 and failing to make it out of the play-in tournament.
Karnišovas said the Bulls will look to sign a point guard and add shooting in free agency, with Ball’s future as murky as ever.
This story originally appeared on the New York Post and has been reposted with permission
