Lonzo Ball Out for 2023-2024 Season
Since being picked second overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2017 NBA Draft, Lonzo Ball has only managed to play in 252 regular-season games. A wide variety of injuries have caused Ball to miss 220 games- 110 of which have come as a member of the Chicago Bulls. A figure which will grow even larger after the upcoming season.
Ball Out For The Year
Speaking on Trae Young’s podcast “From the Point”, the 25-year-old former UCLA standout revealed he will miss the 2023-2024 regular season with the Bulls after undergoing another surgery on his knee. “I just had a really big surgery, hopefully, the last one I ever have to get. It’s a long process; I’m already out this whole next season.”
Ball last suited up during the 2021-2022 campaign when he averaged 13 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.8 steals, on 42.3% field goal shooting in 35 games. Last season, the Bulls finished with a 40-42 record and qualified for the play-in tournament. Chicago managed to beat the Toronto Raptors in the first game but were eliminated by the Miami Heat in the subsequent round.
Nevertheless, it was still an impressive run for the Bulls despite virtually non stop speculations regarding a potential implosion and trade rumours surrounding their core of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic.
What’s Next For Lonzo Ball?
Ball is on the third season of a four-year contract he signed with the Bulls back in 2021. For the upcoming season, he’s set to receive $20.4M. He also has a player option he can pick up for the final year of the deal. An option which is more likely than ever to be exercised given his recent run of injuries.
While the rebuild talks have died down, the future of Lonzo Ball in the NBA remains uncertain and will remain that way for the foreseeable future as he’s set to miss another full season.
When healthy and playing, analysts see Lonzo Ball as an effective defensive guard. While his shooting form remains a work in progress, his shooting percentages have been improving. In 2021-2022, Ball shot 42.3% from the field- including 42.3% from the three-point line. Both were career highs. He’s also averaging 1.6 steals per game for his career- further proof of his effectiveness on defense.
However, all of those statistics are for naught if he continues to be hampered by major injuries.
Since his last game on January 14th, 2022, when he went down with a meniscus injury, Ball has undergone three surgeries with the most recent one being a cartilage transplant in March. Reports began swirling that he couldn’t run or jump after his second surgery and if you’re an owner of a basketball team, that will give you pause about the long term future of Ball in the league. If Lonzo Ball continues to miss games due to injury, but still get paid, it will have financial repercussions on the team. Something the Bulls are acutely aware of with DeMar DeRozan on the final season of his current contract.
LaVine’s contract will run until 2027 while Vucevic’s contract ends in 2026. If anything, fans shouldn’t be surprised if the Bulls try to trade Ball and his hefty contract for rotational pieces to help their current core. But given his extensive injury history and no guarantees he’ll return to his pre-surgery form, there isn’t exactly a line of teams calling about his availability.
That very uncertainty led to some heated exchanges between the eldest Ball brother and analyst Stephen A. Smith this week.
The back and forth began when Smith commented that his sources told him that Ball was struggling to stand up from a chair and couldn’t sit comfortably following his latest surgery. This led to a now viral video of Ball calling out the ESPN commentator for misrepresenting the situation, and not bothering to check in with him for comment before going public.
Rather than backing down however, Smith then doubled down on his views regarding Ball’s health:
Whatever Ball’s health status is however is largely a moot point. With the 25 year old set to miss another NBA season, both Lonzo and the Bulls will be turning their attention to 2024-25, which could very well be a make or break season for the former top draft pick.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.