When the Cleveland Cavaliers added Lonzo Ball via trade with the Chicago Bulls in the 2025 offseason, the prevailing thought was they were getting a solid backup point guard to help the Cavs contend in the Eastern Conference. After all, he was coming off a strong return to the court the previous season.
But it was not to be as Lonzo Ball’s stint with the Cavs was rather underwhelming and he was eventually traded to the Utah Jazz at the deadline. He was waived almost immediately by the Jazz and has so far gone unsigned this offseason.
While Ball certainly came with injury concerns, he believes that if he would have just been slightly more productive on the court, it could have worked with the Cavs, he admitted via a guest appearance on Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr.‘s podcast, ‘Curious Mike.’
“I feel like when I came back, I was like, ‘Okay this is my thought process.’ Like, ‘Ok, boom I can’t do this, this, and that, but I can do this, this, and that.’” Ball said. “So we going to shape some type of way to make this s**t work, you feel me? And that was my thought process. Honestly, the s**t would have been fine in Cleveland if I would have just made an extra two shots per game.”
Ball appeared in 35 games for the Cavs, including three starts, at a little over 20 minutes per game. He averaged a career-low 4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 30.1 percent shooting from the field, 27.2 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 66.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
The former No. 2 overall pick was never considered a prolific shooter, but those percentages were career-lows as well. Although there were rumors the Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets were interested following his buyout from the Jazz, nothing ever materialized.