Lonzo Ball is ready to turn the page on the comeback chapter of his career.
The Chicago Bulls guard isn’t trying to rush things. He’s still playing under a minutes restriction. The medical team still monitors him closely. His presence on the court is still wrapped in an abundance of caution.
But the confidence is back. Ball doesn’t feel like a recovery story or an injured player on the mend. He just feels like a hooper — a defender who can disrupt an entire offensive scheme with one tap on the ball, a guard who can crack open any team in transition, a version of himself that he spent the last three years missing.
“I’m just starting to get back to me,” Ball told the Tribune.
After the last two years — three surgeries, two missed seasons, one confounding knee injury — Ball had been nearly numbed to the concept of a setback. But that didn’t soften the sheer panic that unfolded when he suffered a Grade 2 wrist sprain in his third game of the season.
“I went to the doctor and he was talking about surgery,” Ball said. “I was like, that definitely didn’t cross my mind at all. That can’t be what we’re doing here.”
Ball missed 15 games through a few weeks of rest. His recovery plan was straightforward and simple, a welcome change from the past three years. And although returning to the familiarity of wearing street clothes on the Bulls bench was a source of frustration, that brief interlude served an important purpose.
For the first two weeks after the sprain, Ball was firmly instructed to fully immobilize his wrist. Instead, he used that time to focus on his legs: weight training, conditioning, footwork. By the time he was cleared to get the ball back in his hands, Ball felt his left leg — and, most importantly, knee — had gained another layer of strength and mobility.
“That time out — obviously it was bad for the wrist, I had to miss some games, that wasn’t fun — but that time gave me a little extra something in the tank for me to use on the court,” Ball said. “I could definitely tell the difference out there.”
Even with brief interruptions from injury and illness, Ball’s comfort on the court jumps off the page.
The Bulls average an offensive rating 6.6 points higher with Ball on the court. In per-36 statistics — a method of scaling statistics around playing time by averaging a player’s performance per 36 minutes rather than per game — Ball averages the second-most assists (7.2) on the team.
And the joy of playing has returned. Ball sends one of his teammates flying at least once a game — especially Zach LaVine, his favorite target to rope full-court passes in transition and launch alley-oops for searing dunks.
“I get the most easy points when Lonzo’s on the court,” LaVine joked. “Our connection gets better and better the more he plays. He’s so smart out there. His patience and his poise, his defensive rotations — he does a lot for everybody just by being out there.”
There is a decision to be made here soon. Ball is entering the final months of his contract with the Bulls. The immediacy of his impact this season will make Ball an enticing option in free agency — which also means he might have finally regained some of the trade value lost over years of his lengthy injury rehabilitation.
But that’s not what this is about right now. Not really. Ball still has a few more weeks left before negotiations heighten in earnest. And in the meantime, the guard is trying to break out of the confines of his minutes restriction.
Ball is still limited to 20 or fewer minutes per game, in addition to a hard limitation on back-to-back games. The sprained wrist and a recent round of illness have lengthened the expected duration of that restriction, although coach Billy Donovan has hinted the Bulls could elevate Ball into lengthier rotations next month.
At the end of a close game, Ball is more than eager to shrug off the restriction, unconcerned with the potential risk of playing more than the doctor-approved 20 minutes.
“I don’t think three minutes is gonna affect me in any type of way,” Ball said with a laugh.
The medical staff is a little less cavalier. Donovan and Ball both earned a few stern words after pushing the limits of his restriction against the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics.
Ball feels it’s worth it to test his own physical boundaries. But he also doesn’t need more time — a fact that has fueled his own belief in himself. Even in 20 minutes, Ball is one of the most impactful players on the Bulls roster. The team is better with him on the court, plain and simple. And for a guard like Ball, that’s all that matters.
“I can do a lot in 20 minutes,” Ball said. “Obviously I want to play more, but we’ve got to be smart. It’s gonna be a slow process. I knew that. I just want to play.”
Ball’s confidence is ultimately fueled by one simple factor — the absence of pain.
For close to two years after his initial injury in 2021, Ball avoided stairs whenever possible. The simple hinging motion of walking up a set of stairs elicited agonizing pain. Put basketball aside — Ball wasn’t sure how to be a person living with this level of chronic pain. When he underwent his final procedure in March 2023, Ball’s primary goal was to be able to walk up and down a flight of stairs freely again.
So sure, getting back on the court is the ultimate relief. But after all those years of rehabilitation, Ball is swept up in a gratitude that consumes the minutia of everyday life. These little moments strike him the same as sinking a 3-pointer at the United Center. Taking his dog on a walk. Getting on the floor to play with his daughter. Jogging to catch up with a teammate in the hall.
“It’s the simplest things that you take for granted,” Ball said. “You just don’t even think about it until it’s taken away from you.”
