Bulls to trade Lonzo Ball to Cavaliers for Isaac Okoro, report says

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls are trading point guard Lonzo Ball to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for guard/forward Isaac Okoro, ESPN reported Saturday.

It’s the first trade of the summer for the Bulls, who are attempting to reshape the roster extensively ahead of a transitional season. The move comes two days before free agency is set to open Monday. Trades and signings can’t become official until July 6.

The No. 5 pick in the 2020 draft, Okoro spent his first five seasons in Cleveland as part of a young core that elevated the Cavaliers to the top of the Eastern Conference this past season. He was an off-and-on starter throughout his tenure there and averaged 6.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 2024-25 while mainly coming off the bench. He missed 22 games in the middle of the season because of a shoulder injury.

Acquiring Okoro, 24, accomplishes a main focus for the Bulls: prioritizing young players with four to five years of experience for a longer-term rebuild. But it’s unclear when that approach will pay off.

Straight-up player-for-player trades aren’t commonplace in the NBA, yet this is the second summer in a row Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas has executed a trade for a player without gaining any draft capital. He sent Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder last year for Josh Giddey.

Acquiring the 6-foot-5 Okoro doesn’t address the frontcourt concerns for the Bulls, who have yet to establish a succession plan at center after drafting forwards Noa Essengue and Lachlan Olbrich this week. And Okoro is entering the second season of a three-year, $33 million contract, which means he will claim more cap space and a lengthier tenure — antithetical to the front office’s stated goal of creating financial flexibility for 2026.

This trade at least will give the Bulls a different option at small forward, where Okoro can make an impact on the defensive end. And it gave the Bulls some return for Ball after re-signing him to a team-friendly two-year deal at this year’s trade deadline.

The trade also closes a four-year partnership between the Bulls and Ball that was mostly spent getting him back onto the court.

The Bulls acquired him in August 2021 in a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans, and Ball initially dazzled in Chicago, slinging end-to-end passes and moving with the ball like it was attached to a string in the palm of his hand.

Ball was the key that unlocked a Bulls team that briefly climbed to the top of the Eastern Conference standings in 2021-22. In his first 35 games in Chicago, he averaged 13 points, five assists and 1.8 steals and shot 42.3% from 3-point range.

But everything changed on Jan. 14, 2022, when Ball suffered what appeared to be a routine knee injury. The Bulls shut him down for a few weeks. Then a few more. Then the rest of the season. Ball underwent surgery after surgery as the Bulls medical team tried and failed to find the source of oppressive pain that made it difficult for Ball to walk up stairs or play with his daughter.

In March 2023, Ball made one last risky attempt to return to the court — a cartilage transplant that included a meniscus transplant. No NBA player had returned to the league after such a procedure. The recovery would take a full year but it was the only option left, so Ball put his trust in orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brian Cole and took his chances.

He finally returned to the court in October 2024 after spending more than 1,000 days on the sidelines. He averaged 7.6 points, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 35 games this past season, regaining his starting position despite operating under a 28-minute playing-time restriction and being barred from playing in back-to-back games.

Ball’s return ended prematurely in March when he was shut down because of a nagging wrist sprain he initially suffered in the first week of the season. He missed a total of 42 games because of the injury, but despite the new setback, Ball saw the season as an overwhelming success due to the viability of his knee.

“It did better than I could ever imagine, especially this first year,” Ball said during exit interviews in April. “That’s why I’m so excited for next year, just to build upon it. … I was kind of a guinea pig. I didn’t really know what to expect coming into this year, didn’t know how my body would respond to games.

“But I got to a point where I was starting, which I didn’t think was going to happen. I got to a point where I was playing 30 minutes multiple games in a row, which I didn’t think was going to happen this year. So I went above certain goals that I set for myself, and that’s very positive for me moving forward.”

Perhaps the top highlight of the season for Ball occurred off the court in April: the opportunity to connect with the family of the late Alex Reinhardt, the donor of the cartilage that alleviated years of chronic pain and gave Ball a second chance at his NBA career. Ball hosted the Reinhardt family — including Alex’s mother, father and siblings — for a game at the United Center against the Miami Heat.

Although he already had been shut down for the season by that date, Ball was able to connect with the family and share his gratitude.

“He changed my life,” Ball told the Reinhardts.

It will take time before Ball, 27, can shake the injury concern label. In eight years in the NBA, he never has played more than 55 games in a season as he was plagued by ankle and knee injuries before the January 2022 injury. But when healthy, Ball still is considered one of the most dynamic playmakers in the league, a testament to his creativity with the ball in his hands.

With Ball’s departure, center Nikola Vučević is the only remaining player from the Bulls’ flurry of activity in 2021 to assemble the first iteration of the team under Karnišovas. They won only one playoff game in the three years that group played together before the departures of Caruso, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine over the last year.

Moving Vučević is another top priority this summer as Karnišovas and the front office attempt to overhaul the roster and prioritize young talent such as Essengue, Giddey and Matas Buzelis.

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