5:50pm: Ball is expected to be shut down for the rest of the season, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
5:35pm: Bulls coach Billy Donovan recently told reporters, including K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter links), that Lonzo Ball has again experienced discomfort after attempting to go full speed on his surgically repaired knee.
Donovan said the team will consult with its medical professionals within the next day or two and there still hasn’t been a final decision made about whether Ball would be able to be able to return for the playoffs, per Johnson (Twitter link). Johnson thinks that’s extremely unlikely at this point, given how long Ball has been sidelined.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN confirms Johnson’s reporting (via Twitter), citing league sources who say there’s increasing skepticism that Ball will play again this season. Wojnarowski adds there will be a conversation between Ball’s representation and the team soon.
Ball hasn’t played since January 14 after suffering a bone bruise and torn meniscus in his left knee, which required surgery. He was originally projected to miss six-to-eight weeks, but he’s now nine-plus weeks removed from surgery.
The bone bruise seems to be the main culprit at the moment, not the surgically repaired meniscus. Ball first experienced some discomfort a few weeks ago, so the team decided he should focus on strengthening the knee as opposed to running for 10 days.
Donovan said a few days that the team was trying to slowly work Ball back up to sprinting and cutting as he tried to get back to full speed. Obviously that didn’t go well, since he experienced discomfort again.
Ball was a key contributor on both ends of the floor in the first few months of the season, averaging 13.0 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 5.1 APG, 1.8 SPG and 0.9 BPG on .423/.423/.750 shooting (35 games, 34.6 minutes per contest). He received a four-year, $85MM contract in a sign-and-trade between Chicago and New Orleans last August.
The Bulls currently hold a 45-33 record, in a virtual tie with Toronto for the No. 5 seed in the East, but Chicago holds the tiebreaker due to a better head-to-head record. The team is on pace to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016/17.
Chicago holds the tiebreaker over Toronto no matter what, not just because of better conference record.
Fixed, thanks.
They will get bounced in the PO and Lavine will leave for LA or Portland.
(LA will find a way to dump Westbrook and sign Lavine to a max.)
Uh, no, the Lakers will not. Regardless, even dealing Westbrook doesn’t get the Lakers to max money. They have approximately $100M in salary on the books separate of Westbrook.
I don’t see a scenario where he doesn’t return to the Bulls. If on the small chance he doesn’t though, no team that is not rebuilding has space, so it would have to be a sign and trade.
Time for Coby and Ayo to step up.
They have, they are just not as good. Put them together in one buddy and still not as good.