Lonzo Ball will not make his return against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night at the United Center \u2014 but the Chicago Bulls guard is hopeful he will be available before the end of the regular season.<\/p>\n
Ball missed the last 12 games with a sprained right wrist<\/a>, an injury that occurred in an October game against the Memphis Grizzlies. At the time, Ball said he narrowly avoided a Grade 3 sprain, which would have required immediate season-ending surgery. He was able to return after a 15-game absence, but the injury never fully healed.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n After nearly two full months back on the court, Ball reaggravated the injury in February \u2014 a frustrating setback in a comeback season for the guard after missing 33 months due to a left knee injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although he will require another week to return to in-game conditioning, Ball participated in Wednesday\u2019s practice at the Advocate Center, which included a round of 5-on-5 scrimmaging.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy to be back out there,\u201d Ball said. \u201cI just want to get a little bit more comfortable, want to get back into the playing rhythm. I\u2019ve been out, I don\u2019t want to come back too early and just do something that doesn\u2019t need to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n Returning by the end of the regular season will come at a price. Ball\u2019s wrist is not pain-free \u2014 and will not be until he undergoes a more extensive recovery process in the offseason.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n While he has avoided risk of further injury or surgery, Ball will continue to play through discomfort. His shot was visibly stiff during scrimmages, creating a shallow arc that missed off the front of the rim.<\/p>\n Still, Ball\u2019s return will offer a crucial lift to the Bulls (32-40) as they make a final postseason push \u2014 they enter Thursday in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of the Miami Heat with 10 remaining. He was averaging 7.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists before the injury, sparking the offense in transition and providing a veteran anchor on defense.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in a pretty good spot right now at ninth,\u201d Ball said. \u201cWe\u2019re gearing up to be in the play-in. We know we got to win two games. That\u2019s the goal for us right now. That\u2019s why I\u2019m just trying to get as healthy as possible before that happens and do what I can to help the team.\u201d<\/p>\n On paper, the Bulls rostered an excess of guards after their final moves at the trade deadline<\/a>. But injuries have reduced that to a limited pool.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Ayo Dosunmu underwent season-ending surgery<\/a> on his left shoulder this month. Josh Giddey missed a week after suffering a sprained right ankle<\/a> against the Indiana Pacers. The moment Giddey was ready to return, Tre Jones<\/a> suffered a sprain in his left foot that placed him in a walking boot for at least two weeks.<\/p>\n As a result, the Bulls have leaned heavily on guard Coby White<\/a>, who has averaged 35.4 minutes since the All-Star break.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople was shooting on us for having 20 guards, but I guess it\u2019s coming in handy right now,\u201d Ball said jokingly.<\/p>\n Column: Wait, are the Chicago Bulls good now? Here\u2019s what to make of their 8-2 stretch.<\/a><\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Ball did not travel with the Bulls during their recent six-game trip, in which the Bulls went 4-2, upsetting the Lakers<\/a> and Denver Nuggets<\/a> to improve to 8-2 in their last 10 games. The time at home for Ball prevented potential swelling and agitation to the sprain that can be caused by air travel, offering additional time to rehab both his wrist and knee.<\/p>\n During his absence, Ball praised White and Giddey for their individual performances and team leadership to buoy the Bulls through this positive stretch of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cI was super proud of them,\u201d Ball said. \u201cI was watching the games. I was screaming at the TV, man. That\u2019s probably the best games of this year, the best stretch for sure. It\u2019s been an up-and-down season, but it\u2019s a great time to get hot right now. \u2026 With Coby playing how he\u2019s playing, I feel like we can beat anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lonzo Ball will not make his return against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night at the United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[4102,7,920,919,329,3824,963,187,126,965,2841,4442,150,177,6,6277],"class_list":{"0":"post-35519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-ayo-dosunmu","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-bulls","11":"tag-chicago","12":"tag-chicago-bulls","13":"tag-chicagobulls","14":"tag-coby-white","15":"tag-denver-nuggets","16":"tag-indiana-pacers","17":"tag-josh-giddey","18":"tag-knee-injury","19":"tag-lonzo-ball","20":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","21":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","22":"tag-nba","23":"tag-tre-jones"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114513893516345498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}