Lonzo Ball hasn’t played since last January due to a knee injury. Initially diagnosed as knee soreness, it was later revealed to be a small meniscus tear requiring minor surgery.
He was expected to be out for 4-6 weeks, but it has now been over 12 months. Ball has had difficulty with running and jumping, and his return to the court this season is uncertain. Coach Billy Donovan says that Ball is still far from playing.
A few days ago, Bulls coach Billy Donovan said Ball was still “nowhere near playing”, and now Joe Crowley of The Chicago Sun-Times has revealed just how bad things are behind the scenes.
“It’s not like they are hiding something from us,” he said on 670 The Score’s Bernstein & Holmes Show.
“They don’t know. Lonzo doesn’t know. His camp doesn’t know. Medical doesn’t know. I know they talked about, ‘yeah, he had a second opinion.’ I’ve heard he’s had third, fourth, fifth, sixth opinion. That they are scouring to find something that makes sense.”
It’s getting harder and harder not to wonder if this a career-threatening issue.
The only good news is Ball is only 25 years old, and players have come back from longer hiatuses.