In a narrow 124-119 loss to Sacramento on Sunday, Bulls guard Lonzo Ball made his first start since January 14, 2022. As Kyle Williams of The Chicago Sun-Times writes, a grateful Ball – who started all 35 of his outings in 2021/22 in his first year with the Bulls was happy for the opportunity to at least temporarily reclaim that role.
“[I’m] thankful for everybody that stuck with me, appreciative of the organization for riding with me the whole way and just seeing it all come full circle,” Ball said.
The UCLA alum underwent three surgeries to repair a meniscus issue in his knee and missed the two-and-a-half seasons. This season, Ball had previously only played under a minutes restriction off the bench.
Across 26 minutes of action on Sunday as a starter, Ball scored 15 points and handed out three assists. Starter Coby White was sidelined with a neck injury.
“Whatever you need from him, he’s always ready to play,’’ Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said of Ball.
There’s more out of the Windy City:
- Bulls sixth man guard Ayo Dosunmu, who if healthy would have started over Ball, has been sidelined since December 23 with a calf injury. According to Williams, Dosunmu continues to rehab the ailment and inch closer towards an on-court return. ‘‘We’ve gotten a really good response from the ramp-up,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘There’s a few more days they want to continue on that, just to see how he responds. With some of the hurdles we’ve wanted him to cross, he’s responded pretty well.’’
- Kings swingman DeMar DeRozan reflected on the end of his three-year Bulls run during his first game back in Chicago on Sunday, writes Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. The six-time All-Star unpacked how things ended between him and the Bulls last summer, when he ultimately agreed to join Sacramento on a three-year, $73.9MM deal via sign-and-trade. “Sometimes the way the business of basketball works, a lot of stuff becomes out of both sides’ control,” DeRozan said. “But with that, just got to appreciate the time that was spent there. I gave it my all, all three years.” With the victory Sunday, DeRozan’s Kings won their seventh straight game. Sacramento is now 7-1 under interim head coach Doug Christie.
- The next few weeks ahead of the February 6 NBA trade deadline could ultimately either make or break Bulls team president Arturas Karnisovas’ stint leading the front office, writes Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune. At 18-21, Chicago occupies the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference, two games ahead of Philadelphia for the last play-in tournament spot. The team boasts several veteran players on tradable contracts and has a limited ceiling with its current roster. Poe notes that Karnisovas remaining relatively inactive at a critical transaction point once again would represent a potentially disastrous approach for Chicago. The Bulls haven’t made the playoffs in two years and appear unlikely to break through this season. That said, they will not have their own draft pick this summer if it falls outside the top 10, so it may behoove them to get worse in a hurry. Poe writes that the team hasn’t had significant talks about offloading former two-time All-Stars Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, and is reportedly open to trading anyone on its roster. White and Dosunmu, two solid young players on reasonable deals, have surprisingly not received much trade interest yet, per Poe.
Kangz
Bulls need to send Lavine to Pistons
1. Desperate
2, Not cheap (offer)
3 save money for future
Ex
Lakers and Heat are cheap and view Lavine as a bad asset. They won’t offer anything valuable to Bulls
Bulls are desperate, the city hates the organization, they need to trade Coby and Ayo and pointless P, no one will offer them anything for Zach and Vuc so start them with Lonzo and Matas and who cares what happens burn this organization down
I wouldn’t trade Coby or Ayo. Ayo especially has room for another level I think he can get too. They should be able to find a Vuc taker, prolly just for expirings and a few 2nds, but that’s worth it to try to save their pick this year.
Stuck w Polio Pat atp. (Going to bulls games is a hilariously revealing experience btw as far as fans’ hatred of him, would recommend as a coping technique). Zach on the other hand can prolly be dealt in the summer, but I’d prefer taking a worse deal to send him to Detroit or Nuggets at deadline so that we can keep our pick.
Lonzo had his first recent start in a 5 point LOSS, not a victory.
Trade LaVine, Vuc, Ball, Coby, Ayo… Can they move Giddy yet? Can’t imagine anyone likes PWill’s 9&4 at 18 mil long term. Start the tank.
It’ll be interesting where Lonzo goes next season.
Obviously his deal is expring and Chicago already has the likes of White LaVine Giddey and Ayo.
Think he is doing well to return from injury and showcase he still does have something to offer. He’s a good defender, good passer, good outside shooter and high IQ player. He’s not as fast, or as aggressive as he was, he’s settling well into a off ball or back up guard.
Think he’d be a good mentor for a team like Portland as a mentor for young Scoot Henderson. I think Charlotte will definitely make a play for him because of the brother link but also cause he can play the 2 and they have struggled to find a back up point guard for when Melo is injured.
I think stylistically he’d be great for Minnesota playing next to ANT, with his defence, playmaking and shooting ability. Plus ability to mentor Rob Dillingham. Think they definitely need more and unfortunately Conleys time is up.
I wouldn’t even be mad if he wanted to try ring chase and went to GSW. He’d be a nice fit in their offence and in their system.
Glad he’s had this revival and hope it only continues to get better for him
Minny would be good for Ball. We shall see. But the Bulls do need to blow it up.,
Christie is 7 – 2, Not 7 -1. He coached and lost a Game last year when Brown was out with COVID, but still a good job.
Would not be too bad with Spurs
Lonzo is playing in a contract year, shocking.
Next team that signs him will just have to wait while he rehabs and chases honeys around cali.