Lonzo Ball’s latest reflection on his career cuts straight to the part injuries always take first: the joy.
For a player who once looked like a perfect blend of passing vision and defense - and who even sharpened his shooting as his career moved along - Ball’s path has been derailed again and again by health problems. What started as a promising run has turned into a long fight to get back to something close to normal.
The turning point came in early 2022, when Ball suffered a knee injury while playing for the Chicago Bulls. That one injury triggered a drawn-out stretch of pain and rehab that changed everything. Even the recovery itself became part of the problem, with Ball dealing with pain during rehabilitation and seeing his physical activity affected.
At the time, Chicago was sitting atop the Eastern Conference. The Bulls weren’t being billed as true title threats, but they did have a roster with real upside and a chance to make noise in the playoffs. Instead, Ball’s injury blew that up, and neither he nor the Bulls have ever really gotten back to where they were before.
Since then, Ball has gone through multiple procedures and still hasn’t gotten fully healthy. He got another shot to prove himself with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but his 2025-26 season stint there went badly, one of the worst campaigns possible.
That’s the backdrop for the way Ball is talking about basketball now. On the Curious Mike podcast with Michael Porter Jr., he opened up about how injuries changed the sport for him.
"I mean it definitely takes some joy away from it obviously, because you can’t do what you want to do. I think everybody just faces that at some point in their career eventually. You know, everybody, whether it’s age, age is going to get you," Ball said to Michael Porter Jr. on the Curious Mike podcast.
"I mean, unless you're LeBron other than him, like, you know, something’s going to happen where you start declining. You know what I’m saying?
And it’s always going to be like, damn, I wish I could do this. I wish I could do that."
Ball is only 28, which makes the whole thing sting even more. He came into the league with real hype behind him, and there’s still a sense that he has something left to give. But after all the injuries, procedures, and setbacks, his body has already taken a huge toll on a career that once looked built for much more.
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