The Scoop: Though Ball had missed the entire 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons while recovering from three surgeries on his left knee, he noted that his knee held up "better than expected" in his return to the court in 2024-25. Instead, it was the right wrist that he first sprained in an Oct. 28 game that was the primary culprit in limiting him to just 35 appearances on the season. He missed 15 straight games after initially suffering the injury, then missed the final 22 games of the regular season plus Wednesday's 109-90 loss to the Heat in the Play-In Tournament due to a recurrence of the injury. While Ball was able to make an impact on the defensive end and as a passer with averages of 3.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.5 blocks in 22.2 minutes per game, the sprained wrist may at least partially explain his shooting struggles. Ball turned in a 50.4 effective field goal percentage, his lowest rate since 2018-19 (48.8 percent).