There have been rumors circulating all offseason on Bulls star point guard Lonzo Ball, with many concerns emerging about his health following a third knee surgery this offseason. Nothing had come straight from the Bulls organization yet on his status, but that changed with an unfortunate update on Friday.
Previous reports on Ball suggested that his career could be in jeopardy.
Dan Bernstein of 670 The Score detailed earlier this offseason that he has heard from sources close to the Bulls organization that they have doubts about Ball ever playing basketball again.
“The other thing I heard is that even though publicly there has been an expression of guarded optimism regarding a future for Lonzo Ball, they don’t think it is likely that he ever plays again,” said Bernstein back in May on the Organizations Win Championships podcast.
Unfortunately, Bulls VP Arturas Karnisocas issued a similar update on the former No. 2 overall pick.
“Our expectation is that he’s not going to be back next season,” Karnisovas said about Ball via ESPN’s Jamal Collier.
Bulls VP Arturas Karnisovas on Lonzo Ball: “Our expectation is that he's not going to be back next season"
— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) June 23, 2023
If Ball indeed isn’t able to play next season for the Bulls, it would be the second straight year that he will have missed after sitting out the entirety of the 2022-23 season.
In his lone season of on-court action for the Bulls back in the 2021-22 season, Ball drastically improved his shooting ability in that season, shooting a career-high 42.3 percent on three-point attempts.
It’s truly unfortunate to see injuries impacting Ball’s once-promising career so drastically, especially since he used to be an extremely valuable piece for the Bulls.
