Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball has a complicated injury history that has made his professional basketball career increasingly difficult.
While he eventually resumed his time in the NBA after missing more than 1,000 days and immediately drained a 3-pointer upon his return, the details surrounding his injuries sounded gruesome.
We will never know why the former No. 2 overall pick had such a tough time with his knees. But during a recent feature by Ramona Shelburne and Jamal Collier, he was asked if wearing his family-owned Big Baller Brand played a role (via ESPN):
“I think it’s a possibility for sure, to be honest with you,” Ball said. “I wasn’t really getting hurt like that until I started wearing them.”
During the conversation, Lonzo admitted that he was interested in wearing Adidas.
He added that he was told that “nobody” wanted to partner with him, so he decided to just wear the brand. However, he described them as like “kickball” shoes.
While the brand eventually had Skechers manufacture the sneaker, Ball “wasn’t happy” with those either. He also wondered if perhaps playing on concrete while running sprints in Chino Hills played a role in his cartilage issues as well.
“I don’t feel like I would be where I’m at if I didn’t do all that stuff,” Ball said. “All the work that we put in, it could have hurt, but it also made us who we are. “
Even though he is not sure any of this was good for his knees, it is at least encouraging that Ball does not have any regrets about his decisions.
