Lonzo Ball is progressing but Bulls guard still not running pain-free

MINNEAPOLIS – Billy Donovan would like nothing more than to provide a positive update on the Lonzo Ball recovery saga.

Some news that would let his players and fan base know that a Ball return at some point this season was imminent.

Unfortunately for the Bulls coach, he found himself telling a very familiar story on Sunday. And one that still might not have a happy ending.

“I spoke to him [Saturday] for a while,” Donovan said. “Again, he feels like he’s progressing. Not that this is new, but I saw him [Saturday], he was on the floor shooting. I think the biggest thing is when is he going to get to a place where the pain is such that he can start to run? He’s not at that right now, but I think he’s progressing toward that.”

When?

That remained the big unknown.

Ball has not played in an NBA game since last January, and has had two surgeries on the left knee since then. After the latest one in September, the hope was a six-to-eight week waiting period before a re-evaluation, allowing the team to announce a more definite return time.

Once that window closed, however, the concern started to grow.

While the fact that Ball has started shooting was progress, it was also very tempered. Shooting is not running, jumping or cutting. All steps that Ball needs to make before they can really start feeling better about real progress being taken.

According to Donovan, the point guard did attempt to run on the AlterG treadmill – which is an antigravity machine to take weight off the legs – and still had to be backed off when he experienced pain.

“There were still some issues there for him,” Donovan said. “When he feels that, they pull back.”

The part of Ball’s return that Donovan pointed out was even when he does clear those three hurdles of running, jumping and cutting, and can do so pain-free, there will be a lengthy “ramp-up period” he will need because of how long he’s been sidelined.

“Just in talking to the medical guys, this is not something where let’s say he is cleared to run, and he’s cutting, he’s moving, there’s going to be a period with the amount of time he’s been out, he has to get his conditioning back, he’s going to need some contact in practice,” Donovan said. “I don’t know what that period is, but it’s certainly not like, ‘Hey, he’s running, next week he’s playing.’ I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Donovan did say that Ball was mentally still in a good place, but was obviously frustrated with how much basketball this has cost him.

“For me personally, just being around him last summer and then being around him in training camp, the one thing that really comes out when you’re around him and speak to him is he’s a student of the game,” Donovan said. “There are some guys where maybe this is a job. He just loves to play. And when you see a guy eager to get back and it’s taken away from him, you feel for him.”

Late scratch

Javonte Green showed up on the injury report late Sunday, and by game-time was a scratch with that right knee soreness that forced him to miss three games at the start of December.

What that meant big picture was Donovan has still been unable to see a larger sample size of the Green, Alex Caruso, Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and DeMar DeRozan starting unit that was formed after an embarrassing loss to the Suns. That group got just one look before Green went down.