Wednesday was about rightfully celebrating Lonzo Ball and his long journey to return to an NBA game for the first time in 1,006 days.
Thursday? It was time to start sorting out the reality of the situation for the point guard.
The best news the Bulls could offer up about Ball was the left knee didn’t keep him out of the light practice following his 15-plus minutes of work the night before, and he remained on schedule to play in the Friday preseason finale against the Cavaliers.
Important for the Bulls coaching staff as they start mapping out the rotation for the regular season, but even more important for Ball and his teammates.
Need to see how popular Ball is with the rest of the roster? Checkout the video the team released of the locker room immediately after Ball scored 10 points in the win over the Timberwolves.
First, it was Coby White presenting Ball with a game ball, telling the locker room, “Zo’s back, man. So you know it’s a blessing to be part of his journey. You know a lot of us being here through it all seeing the highs and lows, this was a helluva night for him. Here is the game ball, brother.”
It was Zach LaVine’s turn then, holding up a Ball jersey No. 2 signed by everyone.
“Just like Coby said, I respect you more than anything because of what you’ve been through,” LaVine said. “We love you, care about you, glad to see you back.”
Not the type of heart-warming celebration that was expected when Ball first underwent a third left knee surgery to completely replace his cartilage and basically give him an entirely new knee. Considering no professional athlete has made a comeback from this new procedure, yeah, game balls and jerseys for everyone.
So now what?
A very important question both short-term and long-term for the organization.
The team announced on Thursday morning that Onuralp Bitim and Kenneth Lofton Jr. were waived, leaving the final roster battle for Talen Horton-Tucker and E.J. Liddell. But no matter who wins it the Bulls will once again remain very guard heavy.
Josh Giddey, LaVine and White will start, while Ayo Dosunmu will be one of the first backcourt options off the bench. If Ball is going to stay on his 16-minute restriction for the early part of the year, and coach Billy Donovan will undoubtedly play Jalen Smith and rookie Matas Buzelis off the bench, that puts the rotation at nine with Patrick Williams and Nikola Vucevic the frontcourt starters.
Donovan’s wheelhouse is a nine-man rotation, but he will likely now stretch it to 10 with Dalen Terry, Julian Phillips and possibly Horton-Tucker fighting for that one last rotation spot. It will likely be between Terry and Philips because of the youth movement with Phillips having the slight edge with his versatility and rebounding ability.
That leaves the likes of Jevon Carter, Torrey Craig, Chris Duarte and Horton-Tucker as veteran towel-wavers, waiting for an opportunity.
That’s why it remains pertinent for executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas to move pieces off of this roster as the season goes on.
Yes, LaVine is 1A and 1B on that priority list, followed by Vucevic if Karnisovas has his way.
But what about Ball now?
He not only scored 10 points and showed off the three-point shot in his light night of work, but was surprisingly flashing on defense – a concern for Donovan going into the game.
If he can stretch out his restrictions to the 22-minute mark, keep up the maintenance on the knee so he only stays out of back-to-backs, then all of a sudden his expiring contract becomes very valuable for a playoff team.
A conversation for another day? No doubt. But it better be a question the Bulls find a priority in exploring.