Lonzo Ball has not played the last two seasons for the Chicago Bulls. However, he still intends to be part of the team’s squad for 2024-25.
Ball picked up the $21.4 million player option on his contract for next season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Despite the decision, Chicago still doesn’t know if Ball will be able to play on his left knee, which has undergone three surgeries in two years. As of March 2023, he has a cartilage transplant procedure in the knee, which tore the meniscus in January 2022.
If Ball was unable to return and his knee injury was considered career-ending, the Bulls could to subtract this amount from US$21.4 million of its salary cap and luxury tax.
However, if Ball continues his efforts to return and doesn’t see the court, he will receive a significant portion of Chicago’s cap space for 2024-25 as the team attempts to re-sign DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Williams. This could also make trading Zach LaVine an even higher priority.
Lonzo Ball had the #bulls playing like the best team in the world #NBA
– Amazing IQ on display
– Elite defense
– Absolute 3 shooter
– Turned the Bulls into Showtime’s Lakers pic.twitter.com/h9vLngHmWt— Diehard Chicago Bulls Fans (@DieHardCBfans) June 23, 2023
“We’ll just wait and see his progression over the next few months,” the Bulls president of basketball operations said. Artūras Karnišovas said after the team’s season ends. “He’s progressing well. Everything seems smooth sailing. So we’ll see where he is in a few months.”
Karnišovas made his comments after a reporter mentioned that LaVar Ball, Lonzo’s father, said in early April that it would be four to five months before he could play five-on-five full-contact basketball.
Ball, who will turn 27 in October, signed a four-year, $85 million contract with the Bulls as part of a sign-and-trade deal with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2021. In his only active season with Chicago, Ball averaged 13 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.8 steals while shooting 42 percent on three-point shots. Even so, he only played 35 games.
In his career, which includes two seasons each with the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans, Ball averaged 11.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He was the Lakers’ first-round pick (No. 2 overall) in 2017 out of UCLA, where he played one season.
