Lonzo Ball is expected to begin running again in January as the next step of his nearly two-year-long recovery process from a knee injury.

Ball returned to Chicago last week to meet with Bulls staff and outline a plan for the next steps of his recovery after undergoing a rare cartilage transplant in March.

The Bulls received a $10.2 million disabled player exception for Ball in July and do not anticipate he will return to the court in a game until the 2024-25 season. But coach Billy Donovan said the team has been bolstered by Ball’s response to his third knee procedure.

Ball has been able to progress with weight and mobility training and stationary shooting while recovering in Los Angeles over the past six months. Most importantly, Donovan said Ball is pain-free at this point in his recovery after suffering chronic pain in everyday activities for the first year after the injury.

If Ball does not experience pain when he returns to running in January, he will be closer to a return to the court than he’s been since January 2022.

“Everything they’ve done in terms of progressing him he’s handled very well,” Donovan said. “The pain that he was experiencing that was causing the setback I think has been eliminated in terms of what he’s doing now — but he hasn’t run. The next progression for him will be to start running and that will be here in January.”

Jan. 14 will mark two years since Ball first tore his meniscus in a game against the Golden State Warriors. At the time, the injury seemed fairly pedestrian — the Bulls provided a 6-8 week recovery window after he underwent surgery on Jan. 20, 2022. It was expected he would return to the lineup by March to helm the offense through the playoffs.

Instead, Ball’s recovery became dominated by setbacks. He attempted several ramp-up periods before he was finally shut down on April 6. More than five months later, Ball said he was still experiencing pain doing basic tasks like walking up and down the stairs at home ahead of undergoing an arthroscopic debridement in September 2022.

There were flashes of hope throughout the process — Ball posted videos of himself lifting weights and dunking on a hoop at the Advocate Center in January 2023, but despite those small improvements he continued to experience pain and discomfort in “high-level basketball activities” until the Bulls shut him down for a second season on Feb. 21.

No player has ever undergone a knee cartilage transplant and returned to play in the NBA. But the Bulls are hopeful that Ball will change that statistic next season. Running will be the next step in that process.

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FARGO, N.D. — A historic flood warning for the Red River in December may have weather watchers and the general public wondering what season we’re in.

Select river points are rising in the southern Red River basin due to excessive, unseasonable rainfall, which also contributed to a damaging ice storm over the past few days.

“We believe this is the first,” said Carl Jones, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, about a flood warning in December.

Since 2003, when the weather service there began its current format of flood warnings, it has not issued such a warning in December, he said.

It has issued multiple flood warnings outside of the spring and summer months, including September, October and November, and once in February of 2017.

But up until now, a flood warning had not been issued in December or in January.

Most Red River Valley flooding happens in the spring from snow melt and occasionally in the summer from heavy rains or thunderstorms.

“It’s very unusual in the heart of winter,” Jones added.

John Wheeler, chief meteorologist at WDAY-TV, said the moisture alone was remarkable.

“Two to 3 inches of rain on frozen ground in December is unprecedented in the record book,” he said.

However, the resulting flooding predicted for Wahpeton and Fargo along the Red, as well as Abercrombie along the Wild Rice River, is expected to be minor.

With mitigation measures in place, Jones said the most people may see is pooling in low-lying areas meant to take on water.

While 1 to 2½ inches of rain fell in the southern Red River Basin over the past few days, the total for the past seven days was upward of 3 inches.

The St. Croix River was also on the rise this week in Stillwater after the soggy Christmas week in the region.

On Thursday afternoon, the downtown river gauge was just above 77 feet. The river is expected to rise toward 80 feet next week.

That is the “action” stage for flood preparations in Stillwater. However, flood stage is 87 feet.

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Teams play below their level of abilities against inferior teams in the NBA all the time throughout an 82-game season.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – DECEMBER 28: Naz Reid #11 of the Minnesota Timberwolves commits an offensive foul as he passes the ball against the Dallas Mavericks in the second quarter at Target Center on December 28, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

It happened in Boston on Thursday, as the Celtics — considered by many to be the best team in the NBA — had to go to overtime to hand Detroit its 28th straight loss.

It happened in Minneapolis, as the Timberwolves tried to beat themselves numerous times before finding enough offense to down the short-handed Mavericks 118-110 at Target Center.

Minnesota overcame 22 turnovers that led to 29 points for Dallas thanks to what the Wolves were able to do with the possessions in which they didn’t give the ball away.

Minnesota (23-7) shot 51 percent from the field, including a blistering 52 percent from distance. Anthony Edwards led the charge, finishing with a season-high 44 points on an efficient 23 shots. That somehow paled in comparison to Rudy Gobert’s efficiency, as the center took advantage of Dallas’ lack of size to the tune of 20 points — on a perfect 7 for 7 shooting from the floor and 6 for 7 from the free-throw line — and 11 rebounds.

It’s important for the Wolves to find ways to use Gobert’s size to dominate smaller opponents in some facet, particularly as opponents intentionally go small to spread Minnesota out. That’s what Dallas — which was sans Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on the second night of a back to back — did Thursday. The Mavericks played five-out offense, executing nearly all of its offense from the perimeter.

The approach netted Dallas a bevy of decent looks. Tim Hardaway Jr. went on a massive second-half heater on his way to 32 points. The Mavericks led at one point in the third frame.

Dallas Mavericks guard Dante Exum (0) loses control of the ball as Minnesota Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (9) defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

That was a massive swing from the game’s opening, which Minnesota dominated to jump out to an 18-point advantage. Edwards was dominating. The Wolves were suffocating the Mavericks. Everything was coming up Minnesota.

But from there Minnesota played sloppy basketball. It was perhaps the Wolves’ lowest-IQ performance of the season. Edwards had six turnovers. Karl-Anthony Towns — who went just 3 for 12 from the field — had five, and the door opened for Dallas (18-14) to re-enter the contest.

Things shifted, as they so often seem to do in the NBA. But, what matters on nights like Thursday is that the good teams eventually emerge victorious.

Minnesota found a way to rebound from Tuesday’s defeat in Oklahoma City, meaning the Timberwolves are still the only team in the NBA this season that has yet to lose consecutive games.