Lonzo faces ‘uphill battle’ to return to play

For Ball, the third procedure was a cartilage transplant, which isn’t a common surgery for an athlete, and puts the timetable and the ability for Ball to return to the floor at risk, but for Lonzo and the Bulls, this route seemed to be the best hope of comeback.

“I remember being high school or college and Bernard King blew out his ACL and no one ever came back from that so you’re just hopeful that maybe he can be the first,” Donovan said of Ball. “I know he’s going to work really hard. I know that they felt that the surgery went well, but I do agree with you — there’s nothing that’s out there that says that, ‘hey, here’s how guys have come back and been able to respond to this.’”