Sports are filled with might-have-been stories, the bittersweet tales about what could have happened but didn’t. Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball fits in here, sadly. But before we get too down, let’s note his story is unfinished. Hope survives for his complete comeback, even if only by a thread.
Ball injured his left knee Jan. 14, 2022, against the Warriors, and it seemed at first to be the kind of thing that would be fixed pretty fast. Originally diagnosed as a bone bruise, it soon was discovered he also had torn the meniscus in the knee.
Ball’s first knee surgery was more than three years ago. Two more surgeries followed, culminating in a bone graft and a new meniscus from a cadaver. All this kept him from playing in a regular-season game for more than 1,000 days. He returned
Oct. 23, 2024, against the Pelicans, finishing with five points, four assists and two rebounds in 14 minutes in the Bulls’ 123-111 loss.
So he’s back — sort of. Ball, who left the Bulls’ victory Monday against the 76ers with a head laceration, is on a minutes watch, though the number has increased as the season has gone on. He is rounding into form and is playing unflinching defense. But he has yet to play in back-to-back games, which means he can’t be depended on to lead the Bulls, as a point guard must do. Caution is always there beside him. And caution is a hard master.
So we just don’t know. The sad part is that when Ball first came to the Bulls in 2021, it seemed the team finally had the makings of a budding power, certainly an exciting, well-thought-out nucleus for fans to enjoy. In addition to Ball, there was deft center Nikola Vucevic, slashing scorer Zach LaVine and mid-range wizard DeMar DeRozan.
It was a foursome that needed a couple of tweaks — a great rebounding power forward, perhaps, and a dead-eye three-point shooter — but it was a cool quartet. And it was happening.
For less than three months.
When Ball went down, the Bulls became an engine without a carburetor. As everyone waited to see how soon Ball would come back — and later if he ever would come back — the world moved on. It’s a pity, too, because Ball had a beautiful game, wherein he saw open teammates wherever they were, as far upcourt as possible, and simply got them the ball. He had vision, skill, selflessness. He had a weird shot and wasn’t a great scorer, but he was a great teammate.
Ball’s character had been something you worried about when he came to Chicago. How could a son coming from under the wing of carny-barker dad LaVar Ball and his Big Baller Brand be remotely normal? Brother and Hornets point guard LaMelo might be brasher and brother LiAngelo might be a rapper signed by Def Jam Recordings, which counts Pusha T, Benny the Butcher
and Justin Bieber as clients, but Lonzo is all hoops.
‘‘I respect you more than anything because of what you’ve been through. We love you,’’ the now-traded LaVine wrote on Instagram when Ball finally came back.
It’s clear the Bulls waited too long to replace Ball or do something to retool the team. But this was an uncertain, might-have-been story in the making.
So we’re left with a couple of thoughts here:
The now-27-year-old Ball was the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, taken out of UCLA by the Lakers. Thus could have begun a Los Angeles fairy tale with magic written all over it. But the Lakers in 2019 traded Ball to the Pelicans, who then traded him in 2021 to the Bulls. Now the Bulls are left behind, too, with little to show for it.
The other element is the growth that Ball himself has shown. I mean, try rehabbing an injury for 2½ years. It’s not the physical part that will get you; it’s the mental part, the doubts, the loneliness, the despair.
Rick Aberman is a Minneapolis-based private-practice sports psychotherapist who advises many universities and has been employed by MLB’s Twins and the NFL’s Vikings. He sees constantly how injured elite athletes suffer internally.
‘‘Often for the first time, they are forced to confront their humanness,’’
he said in a conversation Monday. ‘‘Their self-identity is threatened. Who are they?’’
But it doesn’t have to be all bad, Aberman said.
‘‘Some find it a good time to find out about themselves, to reflect and grow,’’ he said. ‘‘Those are the lucky ones.’’
It seems Ball might be one of them.