Bulls guard Lonzo Ball had not dunked a ball during an official NBA match since he returned this season from his 3-year absence.

Ball's first dunk in three years is a sign of hope for the point guard and Bulls organization. Ball has had horrible injury luck throughout his eight-year NBA career. The 27-year-old point guard missed the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons entirely due to injury and has already missed 19 games this season.

Lonzo Ball is ready to turn the page on the comeback chapter of his career. “I’m just starting to get back to me,” the Chicago Bulls guard told the Tribune.

The Chicago Bulls will be facing the Atlanta Hawks, but they may be without Lonzo Ball, as he's listed on the injury report.

But now he appears to be turning a corner. He played nine of 12 games for Chicago in December and was up to 19.1 minutes per game. And then the dunk, which was clearly a big moment. You can hear it in the voices of the announcers Adam Amin and Stacey King who immediately recognize the moment as something special and celebrate it.

Twelve games into his 2024-25 campaign, Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball averages 5.2 points, 3.6 assists, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 17.5 minutes. In a recent appearance on retired guard Gilbert Arenas’ Gil’s Arena podcast, Ball talked about his minutes restriction.

If LaMelo Ball was able to suit up for tonight's matchup, it would be the first time he and his older brother Lonzo have gone head-to-head since November 29th, 2021. The Bulls are

Coach Billy Donovan lightly skirted Ball’s playing time restriction — previously set at 20 minutes — to keep Ball on the court in Monday’s win over the Toronto Raptors. Ball delivered, sinking a 3-pointer to give the Bulls a six-point lead with 68 seconds left and assisted on the clinching basket by Nikola Vučević with 14 seconds remaining.

The Chicago Bulls may have lost in demoralizing fashion to start the year of 2025 after the Washington Wizards defeated them, 125-107, but they can still at least take a major positive heading back home.