Chicago’s Lonzo Ball now says he’s 70% recovered and even ‘good enough to play’

After another campaign without any glory, the Bulls have promised many changes this summer. However, one of the most important pieces of this puzzle to the team’s roster is Lonzo Ball, who has been injured for over two years now. Even so, the franchise’s hopes still rest on his shoulders. 

The player has undergone three different surgeries already, as he’s been suffering from right knee pains since January 2022. Now that he’s endured a cartilage transplant, the athlete revealed he’s finally on route this offseason to make his way back to the floor. 

“It’s coming along, man. Week by week,” he shared on his new podcast What on Experience. “It’s improving, so that’s all I can ask for. Still not where I want it to be. Out of 100 (percent), I’d say I’m about 70 (percent). Good enough to play, but it could still get better. I still got a long summer ahead of me. But definitely looking forward to the future.”

Bulls' Lonzo Ball Says He's 'About 70 Percent, Healthy Enough To Play' https://t.co/C9tlFHhYap

— Hoops Wire (@WireHoops) May 15, 2024

After almost two years and a half, this is undoubtedly the closest that Lonzo has ever been to returning to an NBA court, as in the past he couldn’t even jump or walk up stars without pain. 

This season will determine a lot for both the Illinois franchise and Ball’s career, as he’s going into the final campaign of his four-year contract that has been going on since the summer of 2021. A couple of weeks ago, the 26-year-old picked up his player option worth $21.3 million. 

Vice President Artūras Karnišovas said during the club’s end-of-season press conference that changes will come to the locker room, but he first wants to see the evolution of Lonzo’s recovery. 

“We’re just going to wait and see his progression the next couple of months,” the VP said. “He’s progressing well. Everything is looking with no setbacks. So we’ll see where he’s at in a couple of months.”

DeMar DeRozan recently admitted that he hopes to sign new contract in Chicago during free agency

One of the biggest worries from the Chicago camp was if veteran DeMar DeRozan would return to the team after hitting free agency this offseason. In a recent interview, it seems pretty clear the he wishes to stay put and achieve something great with the Bulls. 

“It’s definitely somewhere I’d like to return to. I think more than anybody, you know when the job ain’t done with me, no matter how tough the situation may look, I’m one of those guys that tries to stick it through and tries to make something out of nothing,” the guard said. 

One the other hand, Chicago’s VP explained that he needs to take a long and hard look at his roster before making any drastic decisions for the upcoming season. 

“I am going to look at the totality of the group. This group hasn’t worked,” Karnisovas had expressed last month. “There’s a lot of great things in certain individual players and a lot of young guys who took a step forward and it’s positive. But in totality as a group, it didn’t work. So I’m going to have to find these answers in offseason.”