A third surgery will sideline Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball for the entire upcoming NBA season.
It has been almost two years since Ball appeared in a regular season game onJan. 14, 2022. Two previous surgeries have not corrected the issue he is having with his left knee; the third one took place in March.
On Monday’s episode of From the Point by Trae Young, the podcast hosted by the Atlanta Hawks star guard, Ball discussed his injury travails.
“When I first got hurt, we didn’t really know what it was,” Ball told Young. “I was seeing all types of different doctors and stuff. I was just kind of going up and down. That was really hard for me because I just didn’t know what the next day was going to be like.
“At least now, I got the surgery. We got a plan moving forward. We’ve been on plan. I’m on track. Hopefully, everything works out. I just leave it up to God and do the best I can and live with the results.”
Although the team has stuck by him, Ball expressed remorse.
“It’s going to be a big what-if,” Ball said. “I feel bad, just for the [Bulls’] GMs because I feel like they made the perfect team around me. I felt like that was the most I’ve ever been involved in an organization. And I finally got the perfect team that I felt like could fit my game and play my way and really just do what I wanted to do.
“That injury—I’m still going through it right now, but that one messed me up early because I felt like we had a chance and never got to see what it was.”
The Los Angeles Lakers drafted Ball as the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. He was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019, where he played for two years before a sign-and-trade deal sent him to the Bulls. He averaged 13 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 35 games until his injury.
Lonzo is the oldest Ball brother playing professional basketball. LiAngelo is in the NBA G League; the youngest, LaMelo, plays for the Charlotte Hornets.
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