NBA teams
Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Lakers' Lonzo Ball has arthroscopic surgery on torn meniscus in left knee

NBA, Los Angeles Lakers

 Lonzo Ball underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and is expected to be fully recovered in time for training camp, according to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers second-year guard had been looking into different options to treat a torn meniscus in his left knee, including platelet-rich plasma injection treatment and over a month of rest.

Ball missed the final eight games of the season with a knee contusion and then sat out for another month after the season in an attempt to let the injury heal and strengthen. While he has been able to focus on lifting weights and getting stronger, Ball hasn't spent as much time on the court working on his game as he would like due to the knee injury.

Once healthy, Ball will be competing with veteran Rajon Rondo, signed in free agency, for the starting point guard position. The Lakers have said that the four starting spots around LeBron James will be up for competition in camp.

"I've told everybody when I took over the job and then we drafted him, the one thing that [Ball] was missing was a mentor," said Magic Johnson, Lakers president of basketball operations. "We really didn't have a mentor for him to really teach him and help him how to play the point guard position.

"And now we have one in Rondo that can really take him through how to read defenses, how to play and defend certain guys in the league at the position. Just talk basketball to. So, this is really going to be an important year for Lonzo and I think Rondo will really help him out a lot."

Now that last year's No. 2 overall pick has undergone surgery, the expectation is that Ball will be ready for camp in late September without any complications.

"I know he's evaluating with his management team a number of things," Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka recently said. "The good news is all the things they're evaluating as his options have him 100 percent ready for training camp ... We're just excited to know he's going to be 100 percent available for training camp."

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