Lonzo Ball has proven to be a quick decision maker on the court, and now off of it.
Just a few days after being sent home from a road trip in Memphis with knee soreness, Ball and his camp made the decision on Thursday to go ahead and have surgery to repair a small tear in the left meniscus, sidelining the Bulls starter for six to eight weeks, according to the team.
On that timeline, Ball should be able to return at some point in March, having time to get his rhythm back and be ready for the playoffs in mid-April.
The knee started acting up on Ball last week, and he was sent home early on the road trip to meet with doctors and start a rehab program. According to coach Billy Donovan, that path was not working, so the medical staff was going to go in a different direction.
Donovan didn’t rule surgery out on Wednesday when discussing it, but didn’t feel like they were there yet in the process.
That changed by Thursday.
“That’s why there was a reason to get him back as soon as possible from Memphis because you just don’t want to waste days for any player,’’ Donovan said. “You want to make sure they’re able to see the doctors and the doctors are able to look at images.’’
Ball had a similar procedure done on his knee back in 2018 while playing for the Lakers, and made it back for the start of the season.
With Ball out of the picture for a while and Zach LaVine also nursing a sore left knee that will keep him sidelined at least three more games, look for rookie Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White to continue working as the starting backcourt.
Donovan will have to make a decision on a point guard, however, when LaVine returns, either going with White or Dosunmu, or doing it by committee and having DeMar DeRozan, LaVine and Alex Caruso play the role of lead facilitator.
