And here I thought LaVar Ball would be the biggest threat to Lonzo Ball’s career. Turns out it’s something as pedestrian and non-spotlighting-seeking as a knee.
According to reports, the Bulls guard might be facing a third surgery on his left knee. He missed half of last season and is expected to miss all of this season because of the injury. Now part of next season could be in jeopardy, as well. What a shame. There are few things sadder than a body that won’t cooperate with an elite athlete’s reason for being.
The concern for all involved is that no one seems to know why Ball can’t stay pain free. It’s hard to rehab and be optimistic when nerve fibers keep sending angry messages to the brain. Ball has been dealing with this since Jan. 14, 2022, when he was injured against the Warriors. He had surgery to repair a meniscus tear later that month and missed the rest of the season. He had surgery in September to remove damaged tissue from the knee.
And now this, whatever it is. The whole thing has been a mystery, so it makes sense that we don’t know what the procedure will be — or even if he’ll have it. Ball has met with multiple doctors, seeking an answer for why his knee has stopped cooperating.
I cringe as I write this, but it’s hard to look at Ball’s situation and not think of Derrick Rose’s difficult journey. Rose had surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in April 2012, less than a year after winning the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award. He would go on to tear the meniscus in his right knee twice. The knee injuries rendered him a faint version of the player he used to be.
There’s obviously a big difference between Rose’s torn ACL and Ball’s torn meniscus. ACL injuries are generally more serious. But the worry isn’t just the injury. It’s the response to the injury. In both cases, recovery was torturous, not just for the players and the team but for Bulls fans as well. For Rose, the delay in his return to the court led to heavy criticism that he was looking out for himself, not his teammates. Few people are accusing Ball of being selfish, but there’s frustration from the public, this time over the riddle of a common injury that isn’t playing fair.
The Bulls clearly were better when Ball was on the court. They shot better. They scored more points. They worked together well. The Big Three of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic shouldn’t need a point guard to make them play up to their potential and their massive contracts, but it looks like that’s the case. That’s more a reflection of their inability to coexist than it is of his talent. And he is talented. He’s a terrific passer in a league of shoot-first guards.
I keep coming back to the shame of this. Ball has overcome a lot in his young career, including a stage dad and an ugly jump shot. For the longest time, LaVar Ball seemed intent on being a bigger star than his son. He said outrageous things, hawked his own products and in general made life very difficult for his oldest son, whom the Lakers made the second overall pick in the 2017 draft. But somewhere along the way, LaVar got the message that his desire for the limelight was dimming his son’s chances of being seen as anything more than a carnival barker’s underling. He shut up. Lonzo eventually blossomed.
The kid worked on his jump shot, a contorted mess that resembled something that had been found in the remains of Pompeii. His three-point shooting improved from a miserable 30.5% his rookie season to a respectable 42.3% in the 35 games he played last season with the Bulls. It’s hard to admit that your shot needs major surgery. It’s much, much harder to turn it into something that works at the NBA level.
One of the scenarios being batted around is that Ball would need six months to fully recover from surgery before starting to resume basketball activities. That would put the beginning of next season in doubt for him.
The one thing that stands out is the murkiness of it all. Will he have the surgery? What kind of surgery? How long would he be out if he had it? Is there a chance he’ll miss all of next season, too?
Whatever this is, it’s a shame.
