It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen Lonzo Ball play basketball. Ball needed surgery on his left meniscus back in January, and in the months since, every update has seemed to be increasingly pessimistic. Back in July, Bulls vice president Artūras Karnišovas gave a less-than-stellar quote about his recovery, saying that while Ball is progressing, it’s “probably not at the speed that we would like.”
Karnišovas likewise said that the team hoped Ball would be ready for training camp, but a new report by Jamal Collier and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN indicates that probably won’t be able to go by then or the start of the regular season, as the former No. 2 overall pick continues to deal with “lingering pain and discomfort.”
While a source reiterated that Ball’s knee is structurally sound after he underwent arthroscopic surgery on Jan. 28, he continued to experience pain while attempting basketball activities as he spent the summer rehabbing in Los Angeles.
Ball will arrive in Chicago next week to undergo further evaluation by the team, but he is unlikely to participate when the Bulls begin training camp at the end of this month, sources said.
While the original plan was for Ball to miss 6-8 weeks in the aftermath of his surgery, the team eventually had to shut him down for the remainder of the 2021-22 campaign.