PHILADELPHIA – Billy Donovan is betting on Lonzo Ball.
It’s a longshot, the Bulls coach admitted the point guard is facing an “uphill battle,’’ but he still chose to move the chips to that side of the table.
Donovan announced that Ball did have his third surgery in the last 14 months on his left knee Monday – a cartilage transplant – and while only a few professional basketball players have undergone such a procedure, none have made it back to the NBA.
“That’s right,’’ Donovan acknowledged of that fact. “I don’t remember if it was in high school or college – and Bernard King blew out his ACL [in 1985], and no one had ever come back from that. You’re just hopeful that maybe [Ball] can be the first. I know he’s going to work really hard. I know that they felt the surgery went well. But I do agree that there’s nothing that’s out there that says, ‘Hey, here’s how guys have come back and been able to respond to this.’
“But I do know that Lonzo, and the all the information he was able to gather just from different sets of doctors, making the decision that he felt that this was the best chance to be able to get him back on the court, and we all understand that’s going to be an uphill battle for him. But I know that he’s going to do everything possible in his rehab to get himself back on the court.’’
That’s the human side of the Ball knee saga.
The Bulls, however, have to come to terms with the basketball side of the Ball injury, and the setback it’s been for the organization.
While Donovan continued saying that he has not been brought into any such discussions, he knows they have been going on with his front office and ownership.
His expectation was he would be included once the season is over, with the organization talking about the plan in moving forward with the different scenarios.
The Bulls haven’t had Ball play in a game since Jan. 14, 2022, so it isn’t like they haven’t had time to adjust in his absence. At the same time, when this core was put together, Ball was an important piece to the make-up of it.
“I’m sure the front office and ownership will talk at the end of the year about that,’’ Donovan said. “He certainly has a long road to recovery and a long road to get himself to a place where he can get himself back on the court and playing again, but I am hopeful that with his work ethic, his commitment and drive, and just how eager he is to play, that’s he’s going to exhaust every opportunity to do that.
“My feeling would be next year’s training camp, you have to go in there with him not being available. You have to prepare like that. But I just don’t know what the length of time will be for him to get back on the court and playing again.’’
Addition by subtraction
Philadelphia coach Doc Rivers was obviously under the opinion that Joel Embiid is the league’s MVP this season, but what Rivers didn’t appreciate was the way the MVP race was being handled by the media and sports-talk circuit.
“Giannis [Antetokounmpo], Jayson Tatum, Joker [Nikola Jokic], all of them are great,’’ Rivers said. “We don’t need to push one down to elevate another guy. Joel, in my opinion, is the best of that. I don’t think anyone needs me to campaign for him.
“I don’t know what’s going on with to validate one you have to push down the other guy. We have to stop this stuff that’s going on. I hear it and I don’t like it.’’
