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The Los Angeles Lakers are back in action Friday after a six-day long All-Star break and hoping to join them for it is star rookie Lonzo Ball, who has been sidelined with an MCL injury since the beginning of January.
Ball started getting in light practice with the team before the All-Star break, but didn’t play in the two games leading up to the break, nor did he participate in the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend.
Since then, has slowly upped his workload and has reportedly joined the team for full-contact practices, per team reporter Mike Trudell.
Lonzo Ball went through a full practice today. He’s still officially listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game. Walton said they’ll make that decision tomorrow after they see how he responds to practice. “He looked good today. It’s all about how he recovers.”
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) February 22, 2018
The Big Baller Brand Twitter account tweeted that Ball was going to make his return on Friday, but have since deleted the tweet.
Head coach Luke Walton said Ball is ready to go, but the final decision will be made by the training staff. Ball has missed the Lakers’ last 15 games.
In the months leading up to his injury, Ball was playing some of his best basketball, averaging 11.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 1.7 steals and 1 block per game through the months of January and December. Ball was also shooting a respectable 35.6 percent from behind the arc while attempting a team-high six three-point attempts per game during that time.
In fact, Ball has been so productive this season, he is still second among rookies in total assists (255) despite missing 20 of his last 25 games. He’s also among rookie leaders (per game) in three-point makes per game (7th), rebounds (3rd), steals (T-3rd) and blocks (6th).
Ball will try and help the Lakers regroup after dropping their last three games, which included a loss to the 18-40 Dallas Mavericks, who they’ll see on Friday. The Lakers are currently sitting at the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference with a 23-34 record, seven games back from the No. 8 seed.