Lonzo Ball delivered an emphatic message Tuesday as stories proceed to fill doubt surrounding his potential to return from a left knee damage: “I’m coming back.”
Ball posted a video on social media in response to a report by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who claimed on Tuesday’s version of “First Take” that Ball continues to be struggling to face up 5 months after his third operation to deal with the knee damage.
“I’m incredibly, incredibly sad for Lonzo,” Smith mentioned. “It’s really sad what happened to him. Something went wrong in terms of these procedures that he has had. I don’t think he’ll ever be the same based off of what we’re seeing and hearing. I’ve heard that it’s even hard for him to get up from the sitting position.”
Ball’s response was delivered poolside from his house in Los Angeles whereas standing and sitting repeatedly from a chair on his injured left leg.
“Who are your sources bro?” Ball mentioned within the video. “You gotta stop yapping. I actually like you man. I don’t even know you like that, but I like you. I’m coming back, man.”
The submit was probably the most confidence Ball has proven in his well being. But the long run stays murky for the Bulls’ most popular start line guard, who’s unlikely to see the court docket for a second consecutive season.
Ball has not performed basketball since Jan. 14, 2022. In the 19 months since, he has undergone three surgical procedures — most just lately a cartilage transplant, a uncommon process that has by no means resulted in a participant’s return to the NBA.
Although he’s not totally dominated out for the 2023-24 season, vice chairman of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas confirmed in June the Bulls don’t have any expectation for Ball to return this season.
“Going into the offseason, our expectation is that he’s not coming back next season and he’s going to continue on his recovery,” Karnišovas mentioned. “If he comes back, it would be great, but we’re just going to treat this offseason and getting ready for the season that he’s not going to be back.”
Ball’s prolonged restoration has been a supply of confusion and frustration all through the Bulls group because the onset of his damage.
In an look on Trae Young’s podcast “From the Point” on Monday, Ball shared his personal disappointment within the uncertainty created for the remainder of the Bulls roster by his delayed return.
“It’s going to be a big what-if,” Ball mentioned. “I feel bad, just for the (front office) because I feel like they made the perfect team around me. I felt like that was the most I’ve ever been involved in an organization and I finally got the perfect team that I felt like could fit my game and play my way and really just do what I wanted to do. … I felt like we had a chance and never got to see what it was.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com