Coming out of the All-Star Break, second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls are set to host the Atlanta Hawks and star point guard Trae Young at the friendly confines of the United Center on Feb. 24. That will be the first game back for the Bulls after All-Star Weekend, and they will be looking to move their five-game winning streak to six.
Yet, the Bulls will still be doing so with a plethora of their top players either absent or limited due to a myriad of lingering injury issues. Some of those Bulls players that are likely still going to be absent for a good while coming out of the All-Star Break are second-year forward Patrick Williams, point guard Alex Caruso, and point guard Lonzo Ball.
The Bulls are also likely going to still have the likes of forward Derrick Jones Jr., wing Javonte Green, and star shooting guard Zach LaVine dealing with various lingering injuries post-All-Star Break.
Chicago Bulls’ PG Lonzo Ball reportedly getting “ramped up” in workouts of late
But there were at least some injury updates that came out for Bulls players that are set to miss a bit more time post-All-Star Break. Lonzo and P-Will were two particular Bulls players that seemed to have some encouraging updates in their recovery timelines this week.
Bulls injury updates from Billy Donovan:
— Rob Schaefer (@rob_schaef) February 24, 2022
• Lonzo Ball has "ramped up" his running of late
• Alex Caruso will hopefully be able to do work with ball late this week or early next week
• Patrick Williams is working with ball, but no contact or date to return to practice yet
Donovan reportedly said that Lonzo has “ramped up” in workouts of late. He mentioned “his running”, in particular, pertaining to Lonzo’s injury update.
He also noted how Caruso will “hopefully be able to do work with the ball late this week or early next”. The update on P-Will mentioned that he “is working with the ball, but no contact or date to return to practice”.
This at least shows that we’re likely to see Lonzo and P-Will returning close to full practice sometime likely in March. Lonzo’s timeline should have him returning sometime late next month in all likelihood. But that prediction still involves some degree of speculation.
Lonzo was dealing with this knee issue dating back to last month. He got surgery for a meniscus tear a few weeks ago.
We’re going to continue to monitor these injury updates as they come out in the days and weeks ahead.
For now, the Bulls will still have to rely more on the likes of rookie point guard Ayo Dosunmu and third-year point guard Coby White while Lonzo and Caruso continue to try and work their way back from their various injuries.
Heading into this meeting with the Hawks on Feb. 24, the Bulls are sporting a record of 38-21. That places them in a tie with the Miami Heat for first place in the Eastern Conference standings coming out of the All-Star Break.