When you’re the second overall pick in your draft class, you’re expected to have an above-average career. Unfortunately for Lonzo Ball of the Chicago Bulls, that might not be the case.
Despite being the second pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, a now 25-year-old Lonzo Ball might already be nearing the tail end of his playing career.
Playing for three teams in a span of five seasons, Lonzo, for one reason or another, couldn’t catch a much-needed break in terms of his health. He’s never played a complete season in any of his stints. He never had a season where he averaged 20 points or more. His three-point shooting only rose to 42.3% last season with the Chicago Bulls, but that was about it in terms of career highlights.
In 35 regular-season games (career-low) last season, Lonzo Ball averaged 13 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.8 steals, and 42.3% field goal shooting. He’s yet to play in the 2022-2023 season as he is still recovering from a knee injury. And according to Bulls Executive Vice President of Operations Arturas Kamisovas, the UCLA product won’t be able to suit up for the remainder of the season as Ball and the team still haven’t found a solution to the point guard’s ongoing knee pain.
Career in Limbo
With the Bulls chasing a berth in the play-in tournament and rumours swirling that the team was imploding from within, the last thing the Bulls fans wanted to hear was Lonzo being out for the rest of the year. Chicago sits precariously close to missing the play-in tournament altogether as they sport a 28-33 record, good for 11th place in the Eastern conference.
While the injury woes beyond just Ball have been taking a toll on the Bulls, Lonzo’s injury problems are casting serious doubt on his future in the NBA.
Currently in the second season of an 80-million-dollar contract he previously signed with New Orleans, he’ll make $19.5M this season, $20.4M in the 2023-2024 season, and $21.3M in the final season of his deal. He can then become a free agent in 2025.
If Lonzo isn’t healthy and the Bulls continue to pay him millions, that will ultimately hamstring the Bulls from building a contender around Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic. There’s no way you can assemble a top calibre roster while playing an injured star. It’s just not going to work financially.
The Lonzo Ball situation puts the Bulls in truly unique predicament. On one hand, we know a healthy Lonzo Ball can play great defense against some of the elite guards in the association. On the other hand, when will we see that again? Or, will it ever happen again?
There’s no assurances whether or not we’ll see Anaheim, CA native play in a Chicago Bull uniform next season. As a matter of fact, we might not see him play an NBA game for the foreseeable future.
With 17 entries on the NBA’s official injury report since he joined the league in 2017, Ball’s medical history looks more like an ageing veteran than a mid 20’s player. Over the course of 5 years, Ball has only suited up for 252 total games, or just a smidge over 3 seasons worth of contests.
Making matters worse, 15 of his 17 injury designations have been to his lower body, with the only two exceptions being a thumb injury in 2021, and COVID related health and safety protocols later that same year. Everything else has been to parts of his body that you don’t need to have a medical degree to know that his days as a high level NBA guard are no longer guaranteed.
While it’s never fun to see any athlete’s career be cut short by injuries, it happens. Whether Ball will become another entry in the “what if” files of NBA folklore, or his prolonged shutdown will finally give his body the time it needs to heal remains to be seen.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.