Ball offers a blend of playmaking, ball-handling, and defense that the Cavs sorely lacked last season.
Saturday afternoon, the Cleveland Cavaliers made their first big move of the offseason in trading Isaac Okoro to the Chicago Bulls for combo guard Lonzo Ball. It marks the end of the road in Cleveland for the former fifth-overall pick, one that at times seemed like a struggle for both sides. Now, Okoro gets a fresh start on a Chicago team that can afford to let him develop more in a lower-pressure environment. The Cavs do not have that luxury anymore, which is why they had to trade him away and get an immediate impact player.
Enter Ball, the prolific but oft-injured guard who fills a few key holes for the Cavs as a ball-handler, playmaker, and defender. In their second-round loss to the Indiana Pacers, the Cavs were exploited in those three areas. The Pacers applied presses and defensive pressure constantly, mucking up the offense for the Cavs. When Cleveland’s ball handlers were pressured (or injured), they had so tertiary options to run the offense. And, while the Cavs had a fleet of wings to go up against Indiana’s, they lacked offensive punch on the other end.
Looking at this trade in a vacuum, Ball may appear similar to Okoro as a troubled shooter who can defend. But the difference is in the playmaking and ball-handling, which should be game-changers for the Cavs. Compared to Okoro, who was stapled to the weak side corner on every possession because he could not initiate offense, Ball can bring the offense up the court and put, say, Max Strus or one of the other guards in that corner. Look at the Pacers or Oklahoma City Thunder, who seemed to have plenty of guys on the roster who could be trusted with the ball in their hands. The Cavs needed that, badly.
Ball’s feel for finding passing lanes and opportunities will benefit the bigs tremendously, but it also takes the pressure off of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland quite a bit. Ty Jerome was great last season, but he is not the playmaker and passer that Ball is. That wrinkle adds depth to the Cavs’ offense, even if Ball doesn’t score as many points as Jerome did. Playmaking is still spacing in today’s NBA, and Ball’s ability to connect the dots on offense should prove impactful on a Cavs team that sputtered to a halt in the playoffs because they ran out of guys who could run the offense.
This deal also adds backcourt size to an otherwise small guard room. Ball is a good defender with his 6’6” frame, has instincts for attacking passing lanes, and is very capable of navigating up or under screens. His 2.5% steal percentage last season was essentially on par with Paul George and Gary Payton II per Cleaning the Glass. Ball is not somebody that can be picked on like Jerome was, and he slots in well next to either Garland or Mitchell to help defend.
Shooting is where Ball could give the Cavs an extra punch. Prior to his third knee injury (one that would eventually keep him out for two full seasons), Ball was shooting 42% from three-point land and 48% from the corner per Cleaning the Glass in 2021-2022. Those numbers dipped in the 35 games he played last season (35% and 39% respectively), but Ball was also understandably shaking off some major rust. There is reason to believe that, with a real offseason that doesn’t involve rehabbing a major injury, Ball could get back to (or near) those numbers from four years ago.
The caveat to all of this is Ball’s injury history. It is an extensive list of knee and wrist ailments over six seasons that have limited the former UCLA Bruin to no more than 63 games in any season of his career. The Cavs certainly know this and the risks involved, but their tight cap situation necessitated the swap of one known below-average wing for one injury-prone point guard. The upside for Ball is higher if he is healthy, and his fit makes a lot of sense with what the Cavs have and need.
Even bringing in the financial ramifications, the Cavs should be happy with the move. Cleveland will save $1 million this season simply because Ball’s contract is less than Okoro’s, and up to $11.8 million next season if they decline Ball’s team option. Okoro’s contract was guaranteed for 2026-2027, so even if Ball doesn’t step on the court for the Cavs (not impossible, but very unlikely), their financial flexibility is improved.
On the surface, this may seem like a puzzling trade for an injury-prone point guard. But the reality is that Okoro was a limited player as well, a one-dimensional defender who you could not trust with the ball in his hands or to hit a big shot. Ball has his flaws, but he has consistently been a positive defender, an excellent ball-handler, and a capable passer when he is healthy. The Cavs showed in the playoffs that they need all of those things.