Lonzo Ball expected to see first action Wednesday

[MGB8]

He was quietly, unexpectedly, our best player, the true big above the mid-3…. And he might be, again.

The once and future king of Chicago…? I know, fool’s hope.

[GoBlue72391]

He looked like he didn't miss a beat. Pretty amazing.

If he can take off from where he left off before he got hurt then that changes the outlook of our season. I'm assuming he won't be limited to 16 minutes all season, though I believe they said back to backs are out of the question.

He's an impact player for sure.

[dougthonus]

Lonzo looked awesome out there. If his knee holds up, he's a legit player.

[FriedRise]

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[Ice Man]

He passed Test #1! Test #2 is to look similar in regular season games and #3 is to stay on the court. But one step at a time and this was a big one.

[ChiTownHero1992]

Sounds like his body was incredibly sore afterward and that is alarming if he barely played 15 minutes. He'll be a limited role player for sure this year but that doesn't look great for your future.

[sco]

Sounds like his body was incredibly sore afterward and that is alarming if he barely played 15 minutes. He'll be a limited role player for sure this year but that doesn't look great for your future.

Didn't hear any discussion about him being incredibly sore? Source?

[ChiTownHero1992]

Sounds like his body was incredibly sore afterward and that is alarming if he barely played 15 minutes. He'll be a limited role player for sure this year but that doesn't look great for your future.

Didn't hear any discussion about him being incredibly sore? Source?

This was the only thing i'm going off of, woke up to the story pop up on my phone https://www.chicitysports.com/lonzo-ball-body-chicago-bulls-nba-news, haven't really read much just skimmed but to me sounded like he doesn't expect to be a playing a ton throughout the season but when/where he can.

Could be nothing, could be something, who the heck knows. Hoping he is good but I can't see him ever being a starter/meaniningful minutes guy currently.

[CBS7]

Sounds like his body was incredibly sore afterward and that is alarming if he barely played 15 minutes. He'll be a limited role player for sure this year but that doesn't look great for your future.

Didn't hear any discussion about him being incredibly sore? Source?

This was the only thing i'm going off of, woke up to the story pop up on my phone https://www.chicitysports.com/lonzo-ball-body-chicago-bulls-nba-news, haven't really read much just skimmed but to me sounded like he doesn't expect to be a playing a ton throughout the season but when/where he can.

Could be nothing, could be something, who the heck knows. Hoping he is good but I can't see him ever being a starter/meaniningful minutes guy currently.

This looks like it dropped before the game lol

Who knows, if I was a betting man I would have bet he'd never see a minute in the regular season again. Reconsidering that now. Maybe he could be a meaningful rotation player too.

[dougthonus]

Sounds like his body was incredibly sore afterward and that is alarming if he barely played 15 minutes. He'll be a limited role player for sure this year but that doesn't look great for your future.

Didn't hear any discussion about him being incredibly sore? Source?

This was the only thing i'm going off of, woke up to the story pop up on my phone https://www.chicitysports.com/lonzo-ball-body-chicago-bulls-nba-news, haven't really read much just skimmed but to me sounded like he doesn't expect to be a playing a ton throughout the season but when/where he can.

Could be nothing, could be something, who the heck knows. Hoping he is good but I can't see him ever being a starter/meaniningful minutes guy currently.

This is just someone running with an incredibly negative narrative spin on the same quotes everyone else had in the same day before the game.

The quote about not having the same body he had before is because he had a meniscus transplant, so literally, it's not his meniscus anymore, but a doner meniscus. He's discussed this before in that he has a whole new knee, and it isn't the knee he started with. Managing soreness will of course be a concern, but this is unrelated to him playing 15 minutes last night as the quotes were pregame.

This isn't to say there isn't a long road ahead for Ball. Of course there's a long road, and we'll have to wait and see if he can remain healthy and what kind of load he can ever handle, but nothing in this article is related to his recovery after game action.

[HearshotKDS]

I thought Lonzo was done playing meaningful NBA basketball. I did not expect him to be able to play at the level he showed yesterday. I am very impressed with the progress he made on what was an absurd recovery process. I dont expect to ever get pre-injury Lonzo back but if he can be productive even if just for 10-15 mpg in most games this season that is a staggering return. Well done Mr. Ball.

[Rainwater]

He looked amazing out there, proud of him.

[madvillian]

I've been quite negative, just based on the history of pro athletes missing multiple seasons -- but he did not look out of place last night, at a pretty high tempo for preseason. I think if the Bulls are smart and do limit him to just 16 MPG he can build up slowly and hopefully maintain the rest of his body, not just his knee. It's going to be a long season of him being really sore, the key will be to not get injured.

[keithmad42]

Lonzo Ball was the most valuable player on the Bulls during the games he played in the 21-22 season.

Lonzo Ball was arguably the most impactful player per minute on the floor in his first game back in over 1000 days.

It’s hard to imagine he’s past all his major injuries but he’s his own kind of unicorn. 3 and D, guards 1-3 and sometimes 4's, floor general and gets everyone organized like only a handful of players in the league can, probably top 5 basketball IQ currently in the game, can be a primary ball handler or a floor spacer, only 26 years old.

If healthy, there is not one team in the league he could not improve in my opinion. I think the Bulls might have to consider extending him if he’s healthy through the next few months. He’s very grateful to them right now, would he take a 3 year extension with a team option on the 3rd for 15M or so a year. Worst case the Bulls eat 30 to 40 more mil when they are still bad to mediocre. Best case it’s one of the best contracts in the league. Probably would not take it but 30+ mil guaranteed when he wasn’t sure he’d ever play again is something, might feel like he owes them a team.

It would be a shame to see him sign a mid level somewhere else next year and not reap the rewards of the Bulls genuine patience and good will with him.

[ImSlower]

It would also be a shame if we signed him for 3/45 and got 17 games out of him. I'm really pulling for him too; I love his game. He's an unprecedented risk, and whoever pays him will be paying him as one. I can't see him getting more than 1+1 or something with a team option, but in sports, it only takes one bold GM.

[Ccwatercraft]

Lonzo Ball was the most valuable player on the Bulls during the games he played in the 21-22 season.

Lonzo Ball was arguably the most impactful player per minute on the floor in his first game back in over 1000 days.

It’s hard to imagine he’s past all his major injuries but he’s his own kind of unicorn. 3 and D, guards 1-3 and sometimes 4's, floor general and gets everyone organized like only a handful of players in the league can, probably top 5 basketball IQ currently in the game, can be a primary ball handler or a floor spacer, only 26 years old.

If healthy, there is not one team in the league he could not improve in my opinion. I think the Bulls might have to consider extending him if he’s healthy through the next few months. He’s very grateful to them right now, would he take a 3 year extension with a team option on the 3rd for 15M or so a year. Worst case the Bulls eat 30 to 40 more mil when they are still bad to mediocre. Best case it’s one of the best contracts in the league. Probably would not take it but 30+ mil guaranteed when he wasn’t sure he’d ever play again is something, might feel like he owes them a team.

It would be a shame to see him sign a mid level somewhere else next year and not reap the rewards of the Bulls genuine patience and good will with him.

I disagree on any loyalty discounts. No matter which team he was on, he wou have been paid his guaranteed contract. It's a business, he doesn't owe the Bills anything.

I'm curious where it goes from here, but it's way too early to decide.

[t-time]

I understand that there will be a whole heap of precaution and rest put into him during the season but the way he moved and the way he played was remarkable. He didn’t look like someone who was finished at all.

Best thing was when he jumped into the bench and didn’t think twice about it.

[Indomitable]

Lonzo Ball was the most valuable player on the Bulls during the games he played in the 21-22 season.

Lonzo Ball was arguably the most impactful player per minute on the floor in his first game back in over 1000 days.

It’s hard to imagine he’s past all his major injuries but he’s his own kind of unicorn. 3 and D, guards 1-3 and sometimes 4's, floor general and gets everyone organized like only a handful of players in the league can, probably top 5 basketball IQ currently in the game, can be a primary ball handler or a floor spacer, only 26 years old.

If healthy, there is not one team in the league he could not improve in my opinion. I think the Bulls might have to consider extending him if he’s healthy through the next few months. He’s very grateful to them right now, would he take a 3 year extension with a team option on the 3rd for 15M or so a year. Worst case the Bulls eat 30 to 40 more mil when they are still bad to mediocre. Best case it’s one of the best contracts in the league. Probably would not take it but 30+ mil guaranteed when he wasn’t sure he’d ever play again is something, might feel like he owes them a team.

It would be a shame to see him sign a mid level somewhere else next year and not reap the rewards of the Bulls genuine patience and good will with him.

I disagree on any loyalty discounts. No matter which team he was on, he wou have been paid his guaranteed contract. It's a business, he doesn't owe the Bills anything.

I'm curious where it goes from here, but it's way too early to decide.

A lot of teams would have medically retired him.

[sco]

Lonzo Ball was the most valuable player on the Bulls during the games he played in the 21-22 season.

Lonzo Ball was arguably the most impactful player per minute on the floor in his first game back in over 1000 days.

It’s hard to imagine he’s past all his major injuries but he’s his own kind of unicorn. 3 and D, guards 1-3 and sometimes 4's, floor general and gets everyone organized like only a handful of players in the league can, probably top 5 basketball IQ currently in the game, can be a primary ball handler or a floor spacer, only 26 years old.

If healthy, there is not one team in the league he could not improve in my opinion. I think the Bulls might have to consider extending him if he’s healthy through the next few months. He’s very grateful to them right now, would he take a 3 year extension with a team option on the 3rd for 15M or so a year. Worst case the Bulls eat 30 to 40 more mil when they are still bad to mediocre. Best case it’s one of the best contracts in the league. Probably would not take it but 30+ mil guaranteed when he wasn’t sure he’d ever play again is something, might feel like he owes them a team.

It would be a shame to see him sign a mid level somewhere else next year and not reap the rewards of the Bulls genuine patience and good will with him.

I disagree on any loyalty discounts. No matter which team he was on, he wou have been paid his guaranteed contract. It's a business, he doesn't owe the Bills anything.

I'm curious where it goes from here, but it's way too early to decide.

A lot of teams would have medically retired him.

It's not for certain they could have done that - needs independent doctor to approve, but regardless, he would have still have gotten 100% of his pay.

The more I think about it, if Ball survives the season without reinjuring his repaired knee and plays well for more than 60 games at 20MPG+, that's a pretty good indication that the knee can be durable going forward. It strikes me as a bit of a binary, the knee is good or it isn't sorta thing with that sort of workload. The tricky part will be if he has other injuries due to favoring his good leg.

[The Explorer]

It would have been amazing to see Ball and Caruso on the floor together again. Wasn't meant to be, unfortunately.