When Lonzo Ball went down on Jan. 14, 2022, he likely assumed he’d miss a few months at most. He was initially forced to undergo surgery for a torn meniscus, a serious knee injury, but one that NBA players overcome frequently. Instead, he missed the next two-and-a-half seasons as setback after setback wreaked havoc on his recovery, watching from the sideline as his once promising Chicago Bulls descended into the Play-In Tournament and, eventually, the lottery. Only four Bulls who played in that fateful game in January of 2022 remain on the roster, but on Wednesday, they got to witness Ball’s first official game action in over 1,000 days.
And all things considered, it went pretty well for the former No. 2 overall pick in the Bulls’ Wednesday night opener against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Ball played 13 minutes and 39 seconds in his return to live action, and by and large, he looked like his old self in a 123-111 loss for Chicago. He quickly drained a 3-pointer upon entering the game, and in his second stint later on, he threw a gorgeous alley-oop to Zach LaVine, one of those few returning teammates.
Ball finished the game with five points, four assists and two rebounds. The Bulls won his minutes by four points despite losing the rest of the game relatively handily. Ball didn’t quite look 100% physically yet, and he’s still working on a minutes limit, but after more than 1,000 days away from the game, Ball returned as a productive NBA player.
Technically, this wasn’t the first time Ball stepped on an NBA floor since his injury. He did manage to play around 31 minutes during the preseason, making eight of his 15 shot attempts in two games. But the preseason is one thing. The regular season is quite another.
After years of injuries, Ball managed to hold his own against an NBA team going all out to win, not just get into game shape.
Several of the teammates that Ball played with during his initially-promising season in Chicago are now gone. DeMar DeRozan is with the Kings. Alex Caruso is playing for the Thunder.
For this rebuilding Chicago team to have any success this season, they are going to need some measure of productivity out of Ball. Wednesday was a nice start in what will hopefully be a long-term comeback.
