Lonzo Ball isn’t pretending his Cleveland run was some grand mystery. In his view, the fix was simple: a little more production, a couple more made shots, and the whole thing might have played out differently.
Speaking on Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr.’s podcast, “Curious Mike,” Ball said he believed the Cavaliers could have made it work if his offense had just ticked up a bit.
“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.”
That’s a blunt assessment of a stint that never really caught fire. Cleveland acquired Ball from the Chicago Bulls in the 2025 offseason expecting a dependable backup point guard who could help push the team in the Eastern Conference, especially after his strong return the previous season.
Instead, the fit never quite clicked. He was traded to the Utah Jazz at the deadline, then waived almost right away.
He remains unsigned this offseason.
The numbers back up how rough it was. Ball played 35 games for the Cavs, starting three, and logged just over 20 minutes a night. He finished with career lows across the board: 4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game, while shooting 30.1 percent from the field, 27.2 percent from 3 and 66.7 percent from the line.
Ball has never been known as a high-volume scorer, but even for him, those marks were uncharacteristically low. And while there were rumors that the Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets had interest after his buyout from the Jazz, nothing ever came of it.
In Other News...
Cavaliers Just Made A Risky Wing Bet Fans Will Debate
A busy offseason for the East has kept roster watchers on alert, and the Cavaliers have now joined the conversation with a move that adds another young wing to the mix. Cleveland completed a five-team trade to bring in Peyton Watson, then reportedly followed that up by signing him to a four-year contract with a player option, giving the front office another long look at a player whose upside still appears to be part of the appeal.
The timing only adds to the intrigue, with rival roster shuffling already underway across the conference and Detroits Cade Cunningham helping steer a players-run minicamp in San Diego while the Pistons sort through their own frontcourt questions. For Cleveland, the bet on Watson is the kind of move that can look clever if his development keeps pace, but it also leaves room for debate about how the Cavaliers are stacking their wing rotation and what comes next as the rest of the East keeps moving. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Suddenly Have Another Chance To Deepen This Contender Core
The Cavaliers latest run of roster maneuvering has already started to reshape the look of a team trying to keep pace in the East. Cleveland pulled in Peyton Watson as part of a five-team deal that also involved Denver, the Clippers, Sacramento, Washington and Charlotte, then quickly moved to bring James Harden back on a new three-year contract, a pair of moves that signal a front office still working to reinforce a contenders core.
Bruce Brown now looms as the next possible addition, with Cleveland reportedly interested in the free agent as another way to bolster the roster. It is the kind of opportunity teams around the league chase in the margins of the offseason, and for the Cavaliers it adds another layer of intrigue to a summer that has already brought in fresh talent while leaving one more notable piece on the board. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Suddenly Have A Top Tier Debate Fans Will Love
The Cavaliers offseason has already pushed them into a different kind of conversation, one that feels a lot more like expectation than curiosity. After their latest moves, Cleveland landed at No. 5 in The Athletics NBA power rankings, a spot that reflects how quickly the roster has been reshaped and how much more attention the team is drawing heading into the new season. Watsons arrival in the multi-team trade involving the Nuggets and Clippers added another major piece, and his four-year, $88 million deal only underlined how serious the Cavs were about making a splash.
Now the debate around Cleveland is less about whether they improved and more about how far that improvement can carry them. The leagues schedule makers have also put the Cavs in the spotlight, with 17 national television appearances on an 80-game slate and a series of eye-catching matchups against Eastern Conference rivals. For a team already climbing the rankings, the stage is set for plenty of scrutiny, and maybe even more discussion about where this group belongs when the season starts to take shape. [Read more 🡒]