The Chicago Bulls will have to move forward with their disappointing season without star point guard Lonzo Ball, who Bulls head coach Billy Donovan says is “nowhere close” to playing, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Julia Poe.
Ball hasn’t played since January of 2022 due to a torn meniscus and complications from two knee surgeries, but the Bulls have not formulated a date in which to declare Ball out for the season, however Donovan said that the topic will be addressed if Ball doesn’t show significant improvement over the course of the next few weeks.
Ball recently discussed that that sitting out the rest of the season is a possibility.
“Once you get out of the All-Star break, I think that, with the amount of time that’s left — you’re at the end of February, you basically have all of March and a couple of weeks, if not even two weeks in April,” Donovan said. “So if you start to get to that point, I think there will probably end up being some conversations: ‘OK, what if he’s still not close to playing? What’s the plan going forward?’”
“He’s made some progress, but I’d be the first one to tell you that he’s nowhere near playing. He’s just not,” Donovan added. “Because he’s not running on a consistent basis right now. So I think, when he can get to that place where he can do that consistently and be able to come back the next day and do it again, do it again and do it again, I think you’ll feel a little bit more optimistic.”
