Will Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball ever suit up for an NBA game ever again?

That is certainly the hope for the 2024-25 season.

The 6-foot-6 guard hasn’t played a single game since incurring a Jan. 2022 left knee meniscus tear, just 35 games into his first season in Chicago. The ailment was initially expected to cost Ball just six to eight weeks of action, meaning he was initially expected by the team to suit up by the end of the season.

Instead, three surgeries later, Ball hasn’t been heard from since.

The former No. 2 overall draft pick out of UCLA stumbled out to an injury-riddled NBA start even ahead of that fateful knee injury that has cost him the last two-and-a-half seasons of action.

Read more: After Missing Two-And-A-Half Seasons, NBA Star Guard Nearing Comeback

Ball missed an average of 32.5 games during his first two seasons in Los Angeles, 2017-18 and 2018-19. The Lakers soon flipped Ball, along with intriguing young pieces like eventual All-Star forward Brandon Ingram and switchable wing Josh Hart, to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for All-NBA superstar big man Anthony Davis. Los Angeles won its 17th title during its first year with Davis in tow.

Meanwhile, Ball’s injury luck — and his game — seemed to undergo a notable change in New Orleans. He evolved from a poor jumper shooter into an elite one and soon became a fascinating 3-and-D ball handler. Ball was also relatively healthy during his two seasons with the Pelicans, missing just nine and 17 games in 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively.

During his final season with New Orleans, Ball averaged a career-high 14.6 points while slashing .414/.378/.781 shooting splits, 5.7 dimes, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 0.6 blocks

As a free agent in 2021, Ball inked a four-year, $80 million contract with Chicago. He had a player option for 2024-25 worth $21.4 million and given that there seems to be a chance he may not play at all, he naturally picked it up. Again, he has played 35 games out of a possible 246 regular season contests (253, including the Bulls’ playoff and play-in tournament games in that span).

In a recent interview with Marc Stein on Substack, two-time All-Star Bulls center Nikola Vucevic reflected on Ball’s comeback attempt ahead of this season. He has reportedly advanced to five-on-five workouts.

“I’ve heard that he’s been looking good … that he’s been doing everything that he can to get back,” Vucevic said. “I’m excited to see him back in the game when we get back in Chicago, see how everything looks. I really hope for him that he’s able to play and be back. I can’t imagine, at that age (26) especially, having to miss two and a half years. It was very difficult for him to deal with different treatments, surgeries and all that. It’s a long road to come back and so, hopefully, I really hope for him that it pays off and he’s able to play again. He’ll mean so much to our team because of his talent and everything.”

Coby White, Ball’s now-permanent replacement at starting point guard, enjoyed a breakout 2023-24 season, emerging as perhaps the best player on a team that also boasted multi-time All-Stars like DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Vucevic.

The 24-year-old finished second in Most Improved Player voting, averaging 19.1 points on .447/.376/.838 shooting splits, 5.1 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 0.7 steals a night. The 6-foot-5 North Carolina product is not the defender Ball was in his prime, but after two-and-a-half years off, there is virtually no chance Ball will be that defender again, either.

“When he was playing, we were playing much better,” Vucevic said wistfully of that halcyon half season from three years ago. “He was a big part because of his playmaking, his defense, his shotmaking ability as well. He was a huge part of what we were doing. He was a big guard and that was big for us, so losing him was kind of tricky. … It wasn’t an injury where we knew how long he would be out. We were always kind of waiting. And then we knew all of last year that he would be out.”

That 2021-22 season team’s core has now definitely been broken up. This summer, All-Defensive Second Team guard Alex Caruso was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for defense-averse point guard Josh Giddey, while six-time All-Star small forward DeMar DeRozan inked a sign-and-trade deal to join the Sacramento Kings.

Given that all that Bulls club was able to achieve in its three years together (albeit without Ball for two of those years) was a single playoff series, perhaps it’s for the best.

Read more: Bulls All-Star Mourns Summer Departure of DeMar DeRozan