Before Wednesday, Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball had not played in a regular-season NBA game since Jan. 14, 2022.
For almost three years, Ball was sidelined with a bad left knee that required three surgeries, and it left the question: would Ball ever play again?
After all the rehab and frustration and questions about his pro basketball future, Ball played in his first regular-season NBA game in over 1,000 days on Wednesday night.
He made his season debut against the New Orleans Pelicans, checking into the game with 6:14 left in the first quarter. Playing on a minutes restriction (about 16 per game), Ball replaced Josh Giddey. Ball played 3 minutes, 16 seconds before being replaced by Talen Horton-Tucker with 2:58 left in the first.
Ball made his first shot and had a turnover and rebound in his first minutes on the court. He finished with five points, four assists and two rebounds in 14 minutes in the Pelicans’ 123-111 victory against the Bulls.
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“My time is definitely limited out there, so I’m being as aggressive as possible,” Ball told reporters. “I’m playing with a lot of energy and trying to give a spark off the bench.”
Ball appeared in two preseason games, scoring 10 points in the first one and recording 11 points, three rebounds and three assists in the second. He made a corner 3-pointer and delivered a perfect bounce pass to Zach LaVine on a backdoor cut that resulted in a layup, revealing flashes of the player Ball was before the setbacks.
“I had a goal to get back on the court,” Ball told reporters last week. “And I knew it was a long journey, a long process. But it all paid off because this is what I was looking forward to. I’m just glad it’s here now and I can finally go out and do what I love to do.”
Before the knee problems, Ball was playing some of his best basketball in his fifth NBA season in 2021-22, averaging 13 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.8 steals and shooting a career-high 42.3% on 3-pointers.
