Bulls Guard Lonzo Ball Out Through 2024 With Knee Injury

Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball will have a third surgery on his left knee and is expected to miss the 2023-24 NBA season. Ball has not played in 2022-23 and appeared in only 35 games for the Bulls in 2021-22 after Chicago acquired him from the New Orleans Pelicans for Tomas Satoransky, Garrett Temple, and a second-round pick.

Ball was the second overall selection in the 2017 NBA Draft, taken by the Los Angeles Lakers. He played two years in Los Angeles, two in New Orleans, and the single partial season in Chicago.

Shams Charania of The Athletic broke the news this afternoon.

Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball will undergo a third surgery on his left knee that is expected to cost him most, if not all, of the 2023-24 season, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.The sides are optimistic of the procedure reviving Ball’s career.

Ball holds career averages of 11.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 6.2 assists in 252 regular-season appearances in the NBA. He averaged 14.6 points in 55 games with the Pelicans in 2020-21, marking his career high. Ball has never played more than 63 games in a single season.

Ryan Taylor of NBCSports chronicles Ball’s surgery history:

The operation will be the fourth surgery he’s received on his left knee in his lifetime and the third since joining the Bulls. In January 2022, Ball underwent surgery on the knee to repair a torn meniscus. In September 2022, after enduring a painful summer attempting to rehab the knee, he underwent an arthroscopic debridement aimed at treating a nerve problem and clearing debris.

The Bulls have accumulated a 31-37 record this season in Balls’ absence, leaving them in 11th place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.