Bulls guard Lonzo Ball playing 5-on-5 but still not in starting plans
So far, so good.
When it comes to often-injured point guard Lonzo Ball, that's as good as the news gets these days.
The Bulls confirmed Ball has started playing in full-contact 5-on-5 scrimmages — as he was scheduled to do once August arrived — and, according to one source, has done so with no setbacks.
Fingers remain crossed at the Advocate Center.
What does this mean moving toward fall camp in late September? The Bulls wish they had that answer.
Ball hasn’t played in an NBA game since Jan. 14, 2022. That’s just less than 940 days. He has undergone three surgeries on his left knee since, including an experimental cartilage transplant in which he was given a new meniscus. It’s worth noting no professional athlete has returned from this type of procedure.
But Ball spent the summer ramping up his basketball activity to 1-on-1, 2-on-2, and now 5-on-5, but that doesn’t mean all the hurdles have been cleared.
He not only must get his legs back to NBA conditioning, but also show he can handle the pounding of pro basketball for an extended period. And even if he passes those tests, he will still likely enter the 2024-25 regular season backing up Josh Giddey with strict minutes restrictions.
The Bulls and Ball are hoping he shows enough value to draw trade interest entering the final season of a four-year deal that will pay him $21.4 million. That’s because his future as a Bull beyond that is murky at best.
A team source reiterated that the Bulls were all in on Giddey as the primary ball-handler from the moment they acquired him in the Alex Caruso trade with Oklahoma City. They view him as Lonzo Ball-light — a point guard with positional height to not only rebound, but attack the opposing defense with his ability to get the ball quickly up the floor by keeping his own dribble or uncanny outlet passing.
Some of that was on display at the Olympics with Bulls front office eyes in Paris to watch him.
Running the show for Australia, the 6-8, 21-year-old averaged 17.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and six assists in the four games for his national team, and to the delight of the Bulls, also shot 47.4% from three-point range.
But with the good came some bad, specifically his defense and decision-making, obvious with also averaging five turnovers a game.
Giddey addressed his defensive shortcomings when he met with Bulls media earlier this summer and promised that changes would come soon. It was those defensive shortcomings that played a part in Giddey losing valuable playing time late in games with the Thunder.
“It was probably a blessing in disguise for me,” Giddey said of what he went through in his final games with Oklahoma City. “It really taught me what I need to work on, how I need to get better. Obviously, the shooting is a big one, but also the defensive end. Coming into this season a switch just flipped in my mind and I just realized that to be at the highest level you’ve got to really be able to compete at that end. You’ve got to be able to sit there and guard guys.
“It’s [the defensive] side of the ball that I really want to take steps in so that when playoff time comes around, I’m ready to go on both sides of the ball, not just pick on one.”
