Chicago Bulls Set to Change Lonzo Ball's Minutes

Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball will have his minutes restriction changed

Dec 6, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball (2) walks back to the bench during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images / Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

While Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball finally returned from a two-year knee injury, he hasn't fully returned to form. He's only played in eight games for the team this season and has been kept tightly wrapped to a 16-18 minute restriction.

Now, it looks like the Bulls are set to increase Lonzo's minutes restriction to 20 minutes.

Via @byjuliapoe: "Billy Donovan said after today's game that Lonzo Ball has been elevated to a 20-minute playing time restriction."

Billy Donovan said after today's game that Lonzo Ball has been elevated to a 20-minute playing time restriction.

He remained under that today. And a really promising step as he gets closer and closer to a normal rotation.

— Julia Poe (@byjuliapoe) December 8, 2024

Through eight games this season, Lonzo Ball has averaged 16.8 minutes, 4.9 points, 3.4 assists, and 2.4 rebounds on 36.8% shooting from the field. His numbers have all seen a significant decrease compared to his career average, but hopefully, with more ramp-up, they'll see some normalcy.

The nature of Lonzo's injury is one that's going to take more than one season to fully recover from. While modern NBA fans are used to immediate results, that's just not going to happen with Lonzo.

"I had literally had a surgery where they just, just cut my leg open to see what was going on. Just a search and rescue," Ball said of a September 2022 procedure to ESPN. "Once that happened, I was like, 'I'm not doing this anymore. I need to set a goal ... [get everyone] on the call and come up with a plan."

Lonzo Ball's recovery is going to be one day at a time, and thankfully, this update is one of the good days.

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