Chicago Bulls reportedly believe Lonzo Ball may never play again

Lonzo Ball was one of the biggest names in basketball over the last half-decade or so. After a highlight-filled freshman season at UCLA, he started his NBA career off solid enough over his five seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans, and Chicago Bulls. However, a knee injury that he suffered in ’21-’22 has kept him off of the court for some time now.

Now, per the latest reports, it could take him off the floor forever. In an appearance on the ‘Organizations Win Championships’ Podcast, Dan Bernstein of 670 The Score shared some pretty alarming rumblings about Ball. Per his intel within the Bulls organization, he said that the franchise ‘privately believes Ball won’t ever step foot on an NBA court again.’

Ball was the No. 2 pick for the Lakers in the 2017 NBA Draft following his lone college season. Over his 252 career games in the league, he has averaged 11.9 points, 6.2 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.6 steals. As a developing shooter of the ball, Ball had slowly bumped his percentages up too. For his career, he is now a 40% shooter from the field and a 36.4% shooter from three.

The worst part about this is that Ball was finding his stride as a pro when we last saw him. In ’20-’21, his last season with the Pelicans, he posted career-highs in points per game and free-throw percentage. Then, in his 35 games with Chicago, he was putting up the second most points per game in his career. He was also averaging career-highs in steals, field-goal percentage, and three-point percentage.

Even so, that injury has kept him out for over a year now as he missed all of this season. Back in March, Ball had his third surgery on his left knee where doctors did a cartilage transplant. It was yet another brutal setback for the 25-year-old. Still, from what Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said, it was ‘the best chance to be able to get him back on the court.’

Doug Gottlieb reported that the Lakers believe his first injury was caused by his shoes, made by the Big Baller Brand.

As pessimism seems to grow, those words might not end up being the case. None of it might end up true, unfortunately, as it appears Ball’s career could very much be in jeopardy if things don’t change for the better soon.