CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Oklahoma City Thunder finished first in their conference in 2023-24 but lost in the second round to a team that ended up going to the NBA Finals.
After adding a defensive-minded guard from the Chicago Bulls in the offseason, they ended up hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy the following season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are hoping to follow that same blueprint by acquiring Lonzo Ball in exchange for Isaac Okoro.
Here is a look at what Ball brings to the Cavs.
Defense
Okoro brought some defensive bite to the Cavs and was evolving as an offensive player but still left a lot to be desired on that end. Okoro stands at 6-5 with a 6-8 wingspan but Ball comes in at 6-6 with a 6-9 wingspan and terrific defensive feel.
Above are a few highlights of Lonzo’s on ball defensive ability. Watch how he can keep guys like James Harden and Devin Booker in front and force tough shots and contest without fouling.
Ball moves his feet well, has the athleticism and length to time up his blocks and swipes, and obviously with the chase down swats, he’s showing great effort and energy in order to track back and save two points.
Off the ball, Lonzo is just as exciting to watch as his head is always on a swivel and he’s scanning the opposing team’s actions. Watch as he perfectly times his defensive rotation against the Celtics to take away the Kristaps Porzingis roll but only once Jayson Tatum has fully committed to throwing that pass.
Once the rotation is made, having the reach to be able to strip a 7-2 player in Porzingis without fouling is part of what makes Ball such an exciting fit defensively.
Lonzo Ball film breakdown
Evin Gualberto, special to cleveland.com
Passing and playmaking
A stat Cleaning the Glass has available is assist-to-usage ratio, which basically examines how pass-first a player is by comparing their assist percentage to their usage. Ball’s assist-to-usage ratio sits in the 96th percentile for wings and only the likes of Josh Hart and Jimmy Butler rank better than him.
His assist-to-usage ratio is 1.12 and for comparison, Darius Garland is a 1.05, Ty Jerome is a 0.97, Donovan Mitchell is a 0.74. All of this demonstrates that Ball is a great passer and will fit well in coach Kenny Atkinson’s system of selflessness, precision cutting, and ball and man movement.
Ball’s ability to make plays and pass at a high level at his size will be a plus to any offensive system but what makes him special is his ability to be both an orchestrator and a play connector.
As you can see in the video above, he can play pick and roll as the primary ball handler, attack, and can make all the reads.
Ball had immediate chemistry with versatile offensive big Nikola Vucevic, and it is very easy to see the many different iterations being run with both All-Star level bigs Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.
It might seem simple to be a “play connector” in basketball but the simplest things can make all the difference: Ball catches the pass with every intention of continuing to keep the defense in rotation. Players that are willing to make the “one more” pass take an offensive possession from good to great.
Ball also loves to advance the ball early. In being a hit ahead or throw ahead passer, the defense is put under 94 feet of pressure, and it is a style of play that brought the Indiana Pacers great success in 2025.
The best part about Ball’s passing game is that on top of the great sets that Atkinson will put him in, he can make stuff happen in scramble situations. Taking a possession that looks like it will be two points the other way and being able to salvage it is demoralizing for the other team.
Ball also specializes in the spectacular, so look for the passes that put points on the board and get the crowd on their feet.
Addressing potential playoff woes
It is not crazy to say that having Garland missing for big games in these playoffs cost the Cavs dearly. The burden of offensive creation was evident outside of the occasional Mitchell supernova. The Cavs turned to Jerome in those moments.
Jerome was a revelation during the regular season, averaging 12.5 points on 51.6/43.9/87.2 shooting splits while playing 19.9 minutes per game with a 24.7% usage rate.
Come playoff time, the minutes and usage increased to 21.2 minutes per game and a 27.7% usage, but the production dipped.
His 12.5 points dropped to 11.7, which is not a significant drop, but the shooting splits bear out: 51.6% from the field on 8.8 field goal attempts (FGA) dropped to 40.2% from the field on 10.2 FGA. 43.9% from behind the arc on 3.6 attempts dipped to 38.9 on 4.0 attempts and 87.2% from the free throw line on 2.1 attempts took a slight hit to go to 85.0% on 2.2 attempts.
With the addition of Ball, Jerome becomes expendable. If he does return to the Cavs, he can take a step back in terms of playmaking and be able to attack a second side of the defense after having to deal with the primary action.
All in all, like Caruso with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Cavs will hope that the value add of an unselfish veteran who makes the right plays will help take a team who was a regular season success to the next level.
Evin Gualberto is a basketball coach with more than a decade of experience. Currently, he is an assistant coach for DeMatha Catholic, a legendary high school program in the Washington, D.C. area, as well as the 16U head coach for the AAU program Virginia Elite. He is a former professional basketball video scout and hasa YouTube channel where he does film breakdown and player videos.