Lonzo Ball was sidelined with a wrist injury three games into his return after more than two seasons away

Three games back into the NBA, Lonzo Ball was injured again.

Fortunately, no injury is necessary his problematic left knee, which required three surgeries and forced him to miss over two seasons with the Chicago Bulls.

The The Bulls announced on Tuesday that Ball suffered a sprained right wrist Monday’s victory 126-123 over the Memphis Grizzlies. The injury will be reassessed in 10 days.

Ball returned this season after missing all of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons with a bad left knee. He was first sidelined in January 2022 due to an initially diagnosed knee bruise. The injury was later diagnosed meniscal tear requiring surgery. Ball was initially expected to return to the field within 6-8 weeks, but was unable to play for the remainder of the 2021-2022 season as he continued to experience knee discomfort.

Before the start of the 2022–23 season Ball underwent arthroscopic debridement surgery to address complications resulting from the initial knee injury and surgery. The Bulls announced it then will be reassessed in 4-6 weeks. He missed the entire season and underwent a third procedure before it ended.

In March 2023, Ball he underwent a cartilage transplant and a rare meniscal transplant that require a new meniscus from a donor. The procedure forced Ball to sit out the entire 2023-2024 season and raised concerns that the former No. 2 overall pick (2017) would no longer play basketball.

However, he was allowed to play before the season started. In Chicago’s first three games, Ball averaged 4.7 points, 3.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game while shooting 35.7% from the field and 33.3% from long range. He did this as a substitute in 15.7 minutes per game.

Both he and the Bulls certainly expect him to return from his wrist injury much sooner this time.