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Lonzo Ball never looked right after the Bulls traded him to Cleveland for Isaac Okoro last offseason, leaving the Cavs no choice but to finally move off of him with a trade to Utah in February. The Jazz promptly waived him as he now sits at home hoping to get another chance in the NBA. “I loved him as a player and a guy, and he was so cerebral,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of Ball on Thursday, reflecting on the frequently-injured point guard. “He was so selfless, that’s really one of the things I admired. To see him have to go through what he went through, to fight to get back, see what he’s going through now, that’s tough for me because it’s almost like what could have been, how good could he have been?” The big what if with Ball after a serious knee injury back in 2022 cost him over two-and-a-half seasons. Even when he returned, he only showed glimpses of the player he was before the knee betrayed him.
Ball did not produce well in a Cavs uniform; in 35 games, he put up just 4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.9 assists while shooting 30.1 percent from the field and 27.2 percent from deep. It got to a point where Ball's father, LaVar, felt as though he had to step in and tell the Cavs how to utilize his son better. “You're already messing him up by not starting him,” LaVar said in an appearance on the Ball in the Family podcast. “You got him coming off the bench, running to the corner. He’s never played like that in his life and he’s supposed to adapt after he didn’t play all these years of basketball. That’s not going to work.” “I told them that when I went up there and I said, ‘If you only want him to play 20 minutes, how about we let him play 24 but just let him play the last two quarters?'”
He, of course, ended up playing just two seasons for the Lakers, with LA trading him away in the Anthony Davis deal back in 2019. But for LaVar, this was a huge mistake on LA's end, as he believes that they would have had multiple titles already had they just kept him. “He’s been groomed to make everybody better. Right, from UCLA days, the Chino Hills days,” LaVar said in an appearance in the Ball in the Family podcast. “How you make the best team? You got to have that piece right? Make everybody go. Average a triple double, but you got to let him go. Everybody who’s balling out of control came from the Lakers. Zo had them all running. They would’ve had championships by now.”
Ball received the big break of his career when the Los Angeles Lakers traded him to the Pelicans in the Anthony Davis trade. And he looks fondly back at his time with the team, especially when he deems Zion Williamson as the most enjoyable player he's suited up alongside with in the NBA. “To hoop with? I would probably say, s**t, low key probably Zion. Just because I could throw him the lob anywhere and if I just give it to him in the pocket, just tally my assist. He’s laying that s**t every time,” Ball said.
Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson was bullish on the addition of the selfless guard, touting his vision and playmaking. Atkinson, however, could not find ample minutes for Lonzo Ball. The 28-year-old Ball has been under multiple mentors in the NBA, but on “Ball in the Family,” he claimed that his father, LaVar Ball, and his former coach at UCLA, Steve Alford, coached him harder. “I felt like I was coached a certain way for a long period of my life, so when I got to the league, this was weird to me. Like if I was playing badly, somebody would be, ‘Oh, it’s okay.’ That wasn’t translating to me. I'd rather hear like, ‘What the f***? Do your s***.’ It was an adjustment. I haven’t been around a lot of coaches who are going to get on you like that,” said Ball. “Stan Van Gundy was kind of tough, I guess. But other than him, there’s really not hard coaching out here. I got coached much harder in college and by my pops for real.”
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Ball said he understood the Cavaliers' decision to move him on Ball in the Family Podcast, but he responded to the narrative that he was playing terribly. “I don’t feel like I’m playing as badly as people are saying. I know I’m the scapegoat right now. But look, that comes with the name though and that comes with what they brought me in for,” said Ball. “I'm not gonna say I'm playing great. But to me, I’m just missing shots, for real. People are always saying, ‘Shooting 25%.' All right, let's actually take the percentages and let's talk about what that is. That's four shots a game. Sh***y, but I promise we aren’t winning or losing games off of four shots.”
How Zo’s been playing lately… the real breakdown 👀🔥 pic.twitter.com/uKl8G56lvH
— Ball In The Family Podcast (@ballinthefampod) February 17, 2026
Ivica Zubac: It was the third year. I finished my first season strong, played pretty well. Then Magic Johnson came to the team. Before Summer League, they told me I had to be Summer League MVP. If not, they’d be disappointed. I wasn’t MVP. Q. You weren’t? Zubac: No. We won the Summer League. I played well, but not MVP. That team was loaded. The best team in Summer League history. Me, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso, Thomas Bryant was coming off the bench. Seven or eight legit NBA guys. How can you be MVP on that team? Sometimes you can’t even get the ball. We won it all. Summer League ends. The season starts soon. Two weeks before the season, they sign Andrew Bogut. Magic Johnson calls me in. Says I didn’t improve all summer. “You didn’t improve. You won’t play.” Camp hadn’t even started. And he’s telling me I won’t play. I’m thinking, I stayed all summer, didn’t play for the national team. All summer in L.A. with my trainers. Strength coach, skill coach, did everything they wanted. What else could I do? If I didn’t improve, that’s on you. Second season, I barely played at all. Third season starts, they sign JaVale McGee. He’s the starter, no other real center. Michael Beasley plays backup center.
That buy-in from Ball has become a top-down effect. Lee’s insistence on sharing the ball has resulted in drops in field-goal attempts from the likes of Ball, Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges — and increases in true shooting percentages for the latter two (Ball’s has remained the same). A significant chunk of that is tied to the presence of rookie Kon Kneuppel, the sharpshooting phenom with playmaking and shot creation chops having a historic rookie season, but the Hornets work because everyone touches the ball. They’re not tied to a heliocentric system as they have been in the past. Charlotte is league average in terms of passes and assists per game, but ranks in the top five in secondary assists — the pass before the pass.
There were some fresh rumbles over the weekend that the Warriors might opt not to sign Lonzo Ball in the end after converting Pat Spencer from a two-way deal to a standard NBA contract.
The Nuggets are confident they’ll be able to add Jones and another player to the payroll without going back into the luxury tax, a league source told The Denver Post this week, and they’ve already been active on the buyout market by looking into recently waived Cavaliers guard Lonzo Ball.
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Michael Scotto: Sources: Cam Thomas will sign with the Milwaukee Bucks. As previously reported, he drew interest from the Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers ahead of the trade deadline before being waived. Cavs discussed Lonzo Ball and second-round pick compensation before pivoting to another trade.
Chris Haynes: Multiple teams have requested to review the medical of Lonzo Ball in order to make a determination on signing the new free-agent point guard, league sources tell me.
Jake Fischer: As the Warriors are working to convert two-way guard Spencer to a roster spot, Golden State also has its sights set on adding Lonzo Ball via the buyout market, sources say.
Jake Fischer: I saw a chat about Lonzo Ball to the Hornets. I have been given every indication to not expect that. Right now, I'm waiting for confirmation, but I have heard that Lonzo Ball is in play for a Western Conference contender. That is probably one of the more interesting dynamics for him. That is probably one of the more interesting dynamics for him. I will try to bring more information to you guys on that when we have clearance to do so, but for now it seems early.