CHICAGO (PSF) — Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball is scheduled to play in his first NBA basketball game tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves. This will be the first time he’s played since Jan. 14, 2022.

Ball hasn’t played in any capacity with Chicago since the 2021-2022 NBA season, where the team finished sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 46-36 record.

The recovery process has been long for Ball, including multiple surgeries, the most recent for a cartilage transplant.

When asked about the recovery process, Ball described it as very long.

“Long. Really long,” Ball said with a chuckle. "But looking back on it, it went a lot faster than I thought. ... Them telling me 18 more months recovery, it sounds crazy in the moment, but now I'm here. It's all behind me now."

There were lingering questions as to the fate of the guard for multiple seasons prior to his return. Despite those questions, the Bulls kept Ball around for his recovery.

When asked about his feelings for the organization Ball said that he had nothing but love and respect for the team and organization.

“They could have just pushed me to the side and kept moving; instead, they’ve been with me the whole way and given me the best treatment, the best help I can get,” Ball stated. “So like I said, all the hard work, it wasn’t just for me, it was from a collective unit, and it all paid off to have me back on the court today.

This will be the first time in over 1,000 days that Ball will step onto an NBA court for any form of competition, be it preseason or regular season.

Ball will participate in tonight’s game, but not in a large capacity.

When asked about how many minutes he’d be playing, Ball said he was on a minutes restriction with a limit of 16 minutes.

“Hopefully it gets up and up, but right now I’m on a 16-minute restriction, so, no more than 16,” Ball said. “Obviously, it could be less than that, but that’s the number right now.”

In his last season of league competition, Ball averaged 13 points per game, 5.4 rebounds per game, and 5.1 assists per game.

He also averaged 1.8 steals per game, which would have given him the second highest steals average in the NBA at the time. The league leader that season was San Antonio Spurs G Dejounte Murray who averaged two steals per game. However, since Ball didn’t play 70% of the team’s games, he did not qualify as a league leader.