After three knee operations, including an unprecedented cartilage graft, Lonzo Ball therefore turned away from the NBA courts in preseason, more than 1,000 days after his last appearance in the Big League.
The last time we saw the Bulls leader in uniform during an official match was January 14, 2022. As he should be available for his team's first game of the season, next Wednesday in New Orleans , LaMelo's brother will have experienced a hiatus between two real NBA games of 1,014 days. Endless…
However, he is obviously not the only one to come back after months, even years, following serious injuries. There are recent examples of Klay Thompson (941 days between two official matches in the NBA), Andrew Roberson (917), Jonathan Isaac (904), John Wall (736) or even Shaun Livingston (611).
Greg Oden’s “record”
Going back in time, we can also think of Grant Hill (657 days) or Bernard Kingwho experienced two long absences (688 and 748 days), but above all Bill Waltonwhich also experienced two long hiatuses (648 then 962 days). Certainly, the first was also a way of forcing his departure from the Blazers, who had managed his foot problems very poorly, but these two periods away from the Great League pitches were almost linked together.
Between April 21, 1978 and October 29, 1982, i.e. 1,652 days, the former UCLA star only played 14 official matches in the NBA. That's an average of one match every 118 days!
However, the “record” belongs to another pivot of the Blazers, the unfortunate Greg Oden. Weighed down by his knees, the first choice of the 2007 Draft will thus experience three consecutive blank seasons. Injured on December 5, 2009, he did not return to the NBA field until Miami on January 15, 2014. That is 1,506 days later.
