NBA Rumors: Chicago Bulls star point guard Lonzo Ball to return in early 2023?

NBA Rumors: According to a recent report, there’s hope that Chicago Bulls’ point guard Lonzo Ball will return in early 2023.

It hasn’t been an ideal start for the Chicago Bulls. At 9-11 through the first 20 games of the season, this is a team that is struggling mightily on the offensive end. The only reason why they’re not worse off is due to the fact that the team has a top-10 defense.

At this point, you’d have to think that one of the bigger reasons for the Bulls’ struggles revolved around the injury to Lonzo Ball. He hasn’t played since the middle of last season and the team has not been the same since his exit from the lineup.

He has not played this season and Chicago has not truly given a timeline on Ball’s possible return.

However, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania notes that there’s hope Ball can return during the early portion of the 2023 calendar year. Whether that’s January or February, this has to be considered good news for both Ball and the Bulls.

Can the Chicago Bulls hang on until Lonzo Ball’s return?

The big question is whether or not the Bulls can hang around in the Eastern Conference standings until they are fully healthy. Quite frankly, I’m not sure that’s going to be easy. And even if they do hold on, will Ball be the same player he was before the injury?

Will he have rust to work through? Will he have taken a step back as a player?

There are still plenty of questions that the Bulls will need to answer even if Ball does return in the next couple of months. But the goal for the Bulls this season, or in the next couple of months, has to revolve around getting Ball back healthy and Chicago remaining within striking distance of a top 5 or 6 seed when he does eventually come back.

Right now, the Bulls are just two games back of the sixth seed in the East. They’re also just three games back of the fourth seed. It’s not unimaginable that the Bulls could just be five or six games back of the sixth seed when Ball returns. And that’s even if they just continue to play .500 ball over the next couple of months.

And if Ball has the impact on the team this season that he did at the start of last year, perhaps the Bulls could find their way back to the postseason once again.