CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers just added two new players to the roster in the 2025 NBA Draft on Thursday, but weren't done shaking up the roster this week. On Saturday, the team agreed to a trade with the Chicago Bulls, sending forward/guard Isaac Okoro to the Bulls in exchange for guard Lonzo Ball, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
Ball, 27, has been with the Bulls since 2021. Ball entered the league as the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft out of UCLA, selected by the Los Angeles Lakers. In his two years with the Lakers, Ball played in 99 games, starting in 95 of them, averaging 10 points, 6.4 assists, 6.2 rebounds, 1.6 steals, and shooting 38% from the field.
The Lakers traded Ball in as part of a package to get Anthony Davis in 2019, sending him to the New Orleans Pelicans. Ball played for two seasons in New Orleans, averaging 13.1 points, 6.4 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals while shooting 40.9% from the field.
Ball was traded again in 2021 in a sign-and-trade with the Bulls, where he's been ever since.
Throughout his career, Ball has dealt with a number of injuries, including shoulder injuries and knee injuries that have sidelined him both for stretches of games and, most recently, for two whole seasons. Ball had recurring issues with his left knee, and before the 2022 season had surgery to clean up his knee joint before having a cartilage and meniscus transplant in 2023, keeping him out for both seasons.
Ball made his return to basketball last season, playing in 35 games and starting in 14. Ball averaged 7.6 points, 3.3 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals in the games he played with the Bulls last year, shooting 36.6% from the field and 34.4% from three.
With Ball now joining the Cavs, Okoro finds himself out of wine and gold and onto a new team.
The Cavs originally selected Okoro out of Auburn with the fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Over his five seasons with Cleveland, Okoro played in 334 games, starting in 238. He averaged 8.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists while shooting 46.7% from the field and 35.1% from three.
Okoro signed a multi-year contract with the Cavs in September.
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