Billy Donovan shared some thoughts on Lonzo Ball's return

For the first time since 2021, Lonzo Ball is expected to participate in training camp.

The Chicago Bulls point guard has been out of action since January 2022. He has had three different knee surgeries, the last of which was a cartilage transplant. Many doubted whether Ball would ever be able to set foot on the NBA court again, but the 26-year-old has made this his mission.

Arturas Karnisovas and Billy Donovan sat down with 670 The Score on Wednesday to discuss many of the hottest storylines of the season, including the potential return of Ball. While both were eager to see him back on the floor, they were quick to temper expectations.

“We've talked to Zo. He's obviously looking forward to training camp,” Karnisovas said. “But we'll try to figure out during training camp the loads he's going to have to endure … and the day-to-day loads will depend on his rotation minutes and his role and how much he's going to play.”

Billy Donovan declined to define a role Ball could play on the team this year. While it sounds like they're hoping to put him in the rotation, what that workload will look like will depend entirely on his performance in training camp.

“What Arturas mentioned and what's key is, we don't know how he's going to react after games and practice because we haven't seen it,” Donovan said. “That's what we have to start with. Is it that he plays 15-20 minutes and has to take the next day off? Can he play 25-30 minutes? How does he react? The back-to-backs. We don't know anything about that, so we'll wait and see.”

Karnisovas confirmed that Ball has been playing five-on-five since August. He also shared that the guard got sick and had to stop training for about a week, but he is expected to be ready to play once training camp begins. However, whether the Bulls allow him to play full-time from the start remains to be seen. The same goes for Ball's availability in preseason games. Will he play in every game?

It sounds like extreme caution will be the strategy with Ball all season long. Donovan even mentioned that the organization has Ball's long-term career goals in mind.

“Lonzo loves to play. He loves to play. And as much as he loves to play, at his age, he still wants to play after this year,” Donovan said. “So we also have a responsibility to make sure that he's in a position to play after this season. That there aren't any of these things that aren't handled properly or that we're not putting him in a situation where he can be effective.”

Even if he is not part of the franchise's future plans, the Bulls should definitely not cast Lonzo Ball aside after everything he has been through. He deserves a chance to revive his NBA career. At the same time, the Bulls already have a lot of work to do in terms of player development and keeping Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic happy. Balancing all of these tasks will not be easy.