UCLA Basketball: Long-Injured Ex-Bruins Standout Lonzo Ball Addresses Playing Future

He hasn't suited up since January 2022.

Former UCLA Bruins men's basketball star Lonzo Ball, now with the Chicago Bulls on a four-year, $80 million contract, hasn't actually been available to play a game with the franchise since January 2022. He's already been ruled out through the 2023-24 season, too, following his third surgery to correct a brutal knee injury.

But the former No. 2 overall draft pick in 2017 -- who evolved into an excellent 3-and-D role player when he was healthy with the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans, and very briefly the Bulls -- continued to emphasize his own optimism about his playing future during the Bulls' Media Day festivities, according to the Bulls' official Twitter/X account.

"About halfway through the rehab process," Ball said. Got a long ways ahead of me, but each week I've been progressing, I'm just trying to stay positive and take it day by day. "I definitely plan on playing again. I'm only 25 and I felt like the rehab process is going well so far... it's just keeping my head up and keep going to work."

Our fingers are crossed that Ball can return to the hardwood again, though it's tough to expect him to be the same level of player he was pre-injury.

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