Lonzo Ball’s Instagram post flashes hope, but Bulls coach Billy Donovan offers reality

If the Bulls get thrown into the middle of an octagon anytime soon, guard Lonzo Ball might be their guy.

Unfortunately, they are still in the business of playing basketball, which means they shouldn’t start holding their breath on Ball’s return just yet.

There was a definite buzz Friday after Ball, who has had two surgeries on his left knee in the last year, took to his Instagram account and posted videos of him dunking a basketball, doing some box jumps, running on a treadmill and boxing.

Coach Billy Donovan, however, offered some perspective on the situation.

‘‘I saw them,’’ Donovan said of the posts. ‘‘I think, like I told you guys, he has progressed. The unfortunate part is I think you’re seeing a lot of the things that I was told. Those are things that maybe six weeks ago he couldn’t do. As much as they’re little steps, it’s still progress that he’s continuing to make.

‘‘I think the idea of running and cutting and sprinting and doing it day after day after day . . . that’s where the timetable becomes really difficult. But things you saw him do, he wasn’t able to do. So it’s progress, [but] it’s just really, really slow.’’

And that progress, Donovan said, still comes with some discomfort. The good news is the discomfort might have been ‘‘a seven or eight’’ on a scale of 10 six weeks ago, and now it’s ‘‘a two or three doing some of those things.’’

As Donovan pointed out, however, until Ball starts sustained running, cutting and jumping with minimal discomfort, the Bulls can’t put a timetable on his return.

That’s why the Bulls find themselves in such a tough spot as the trade deadline Feb. 9 approaches. They have definite holes to fill — outside shooting, rebounding, pace — and Ball could help with all three. Will the Bulls stay patient and rely on hope, or will they go out and try to add a piece that might help in one or two of those areas?

How many assets do they really want to give up when they have a player already in the building who can fix many of their problems?

‘‘I think Lonzo’s been out for so long, we’ve just kind of gotten accustomed to playing without him,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘I think it was pretty significant the impact he had on our team when he was out there playing [last season].

‘‘I have not had any conversations at all with [executive vice president of basketball operations] Arturas [Karnisovas] and [general manager] Marc [Eversley]. . . . I haven’t gotten into any of those conversations, like: ‘Listen, Lonzo’s out. Ayo [Dosunmu’s] kind of played that spot. Do we need another point guard to come in here. Do we need shooting?’ I think those are probably conversations they’re having right now leading up to this.’’

Coincidentally, Saturday will mark the one-year anniversary of the last game Ball played for the Bulls. That’s another reason why Donovan was somewhat reserved in his enthusiasm.

‘‘When you’re out a year, whenever he gets back to playing . . . there’s going to be an adjustment period,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘How long that is, I don’t know. But there’s certainly going to be a period of time before they ever allow him back to play that they feel comfortable that he can endure what an NBA schedule looks like.’’

NOTE: Bulls radio play-by-play man Chuck Swirsky was recognized after the first quarter Friday in honor of his 2,000th NBA broadcast. A video montage was played on the scoreboard.