SI

Bulls Loosen Increasingly Confident Lonzo Ball's Minutes Restriction at His Request

The long road back continues for the Chicago guard.

Patrick Andres

Lonzo Ball before the Bulls' 131–106 loss to the Warriors on Jan. 23, 2025.
Lonzo Ball before the Bulls' 131–106 loss to the Warriors on Jan. 23, 2025. / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
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After missing two full seasons of basketball, Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball's road back to game action has been a tentative one. The 20.9 minutes per game he's averaging this season are substantially down from any other year of his career.

However, it appears that Ball has taken a critical step toward returning to his pre-2022 normality.

According to Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune—reporting from the Bulls' media availability before their game against the Toronto Raptors Friday—Ball's minutes restriction has been increased to 28 minutes at the guard's request.

"(Ball) went to the Bulls medical team to ask for his minutes to be increased," Poe wrote on social media. "Feels really confident in his body and endurance right now."

Each of Chicago's last five games have ranked among Ball's top 11 games of the season by minutes played. His 18 points on Monday against the Denver Nuggets were his most since Jan. 11, 2022 against the Detroit Pistons.

The Bulls are currently 20-28, 10th in the Eastern Conference and one game clear of the Philadelphia 76ers for its final play-in spot.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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