Lonzo Ball, "blessed" to be a Cavalier, Returns to United Center

CHICAGO — News travels fast ordinarily, but when it comes to how quickly word found Lonzo Ball about his trade from the Chicago Bulls to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Isaac Okoro this summer, it might as well have ridden in on horseback. 

“I was probably the last person to hear about it,” said Ball, who was vacationing in Fiji at the time. “I wake up and my phone is just…I couldn’t even go through it.”

As fate would have it, the two teams involved in what league executives believe was one of the four-most underrated deals of the offseason — well, for one side anyway —  would kickoff their exhibition slates with a home-and-home set. 

With the United Center as the backdrop, the Bulls took the opportunity to honor Ball with a video tribute during the first break in action in their eventual 119-112 victory Thursday.

“Just thankful,” Ball said of the gesture that lacked a bit of fanfare considering only 16,258 people were in attendance for the preseason opener. “I made a lot of good relationships here, on and off the court. Love the city of Chicago. The fans, they still rock with me. So a lot of love to them.”

Ball, who’s tallied three points, three rebounds, four assists and two turnovers in two preseason games, hadn’t played since Feb. 28, which also marked his last appearance at the Madhouse on Madison. In all, he suited up just 70 times in four years for the Bulls due to knee and, later, wrist injuries.

And yet, Cleveland had its eye on the 27-year-old for months.

“I’ve always been a big fan,” said Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson. “His reputation around the league is a great teammate and players love to play with him. That’s what I’ve seen from him in camp so far.”

In Ball, the Cavaliers see someone whose skillset and versatility can invigorate the core of a roster that has yet to advance past the second round of the playoffs despite finishing as a top-four seed in each of the past three seasons.  

In the Cavaliers, Ball, whose next postseason appearance will be his first, sees an opportunity to continue playing the game he loves deeper into the calendar than ever before. 

“I’m just blessed to be in this position,” he said, “to have a team that actually has a chance to go deep into the playoffs and hopefully win a title.”

To increase the odds of his body holding up, Ball will be limited to about 20 minutes a game and won’t play back-to-backs, though he’s hopeful that will change eventually.

Unsurprisingly, both Ball and Bulls head coach Billy Donovan called the former-lottery-pick-for-former-lottery-pick swap an even tradeoff. 

“I think when you’re looking at team needs, what Isaac can do for us is something we’ve maybe been lacking and missing, in having a wing player besides Patrick [Williams] that’s got a lot of physicality and plays that way,” Donovan said. “And certainly for a long period of time he’s guarded the best guys in the league throughout his career. And I think Lonzo, with the IQ, he can fit into any situation. He can play any style of play. He gives them a long-range shooter. He gives them a guy who’s really, really good defensively, very active, really cerebral and smart. I think he’ll do really really well there for them.”

Ball was one of the remaining vestiges of the quintet that propelled the Bulls to their only winning season in the last nine years. 

Like Alex Caruso before him, he now finds himself on a team that not only expects to compete for a championship, but identified him as the piece to help it do so.

“Teams try to trade to get better,” Ball said, “so I think Chicago did what was best for them and I think Cleveland did what was best for them. 

“All I can control is just where I’m at and who I’m playing for and it’s the Cavs right now, so just go out there and give it my all.”