Lonzo Ball Doesn’t Take Accountability for Struggles With Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers made quite a few moves at the NBA trade deadline, moving away from the likes of Darius Garland, De’Andre Hunter and Lonzo Ball.

The Ball trade felt like a move that was coming all season.

After he was traded away from the Cavaliers at the deadline, he was recently on his “Ball in the Family” podcast and spoke about his poor season.

I don’t feel like I’m playing as bad as people are saying…I’m the scapegoat right now.
Lonzo Ball, Ball in the Family Podcast

Ball was traded to the Cavaliers in the offseason from the Chicago Bulls for Isaac Okoro. While Okoro has shown some sparks as a decent player in the NBA, Ball was struggling in a majority of his time in Cleveland.

In his time in Cleveland, Ball was averaging career-low numbers in almost every category. 4.6 points per game, four rebounds, and four assists. The low scoring was not the biggest issue with Ball while on the Cavs. It was by far his shooting numbers.

Shooting 30% from the field and 27% from the three point line. Putting him 467th in the league in field goals and 367th in three point percentage.

Why the Cavs were right to move on from Ball

He may feel like he was a scapegoat for the Cavaliers, but he was brought in by the team as a “veteran” player who could be a spark off the bench and make his teammates look good.

While he was also still recovering from an injury and was not playing the numerous back-to-backs the Cavs had, his other guard teammates off the bench were playing much better than him.

Craig Porter Jr. is having a career-best year. In the first half of the season he was making crazy plays and was making things happen for his team on both sides of the floor. Along with Porter Jr., rookie Tyrese Proctor was also coming into games playing efficient basketball in his limited minutes.

The play from both of these guards made a player like Ball expendable. He was also making $10 million and the Cavs are a team in the second apron of the NBA salary cap which is limiting them in making moves in season and in the offseason.

Are the Cavs better without him?

Since trading away Ball, the Cavaliers are playing the same basketball that they had been on since the decision was made to bench him and give him a major drop in minutes. The Cavs have a record of 15-5 in 2026.

As the season goes on, Porter Jr. could obviously have a fall off in performance, but if he does, will it still be better than what Lonzo was doing? We do not know at this current point. He could prove to have been better to keep.

Luckily for Lonzo Ball, there are still various NBA teams interested in his talents.