The NBA Trade deadline is tomorrow and the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Lonzo Ball to the Utah Jazz but according to ESPN they plan to release him. So, today’s Binary Response details why this move makes sense from all angles. Please sign up to get our Binary Response articles directly in your inbox!
This was the kind of move everyone had circled for Cleveland. It was not about if, but when and who’s willing to help them clean up the books. Once the Cavaliers pushed their chips in for James Harden and doubled down on a veteran backcourt by also bringing in Dennis Schroder, Lonzo Ball’s situation stopped being a debate and started being a line item. Between his salary and his injury history, it felt inevitable that he’d be the piece they tried to move after the headline deal was done.
The Harden trade made that inevitability obvious. You don’t trade for a 36‑year‑old former MVP and pair him with Donovan Mitchell if you still see Lonzo as part of your long‑term starting backcourt plan. And you definitely don’t add Schroder on top of that if you think Ball is a foundational depth guard you’re banking on for 25 minutes a night. As soon as Cleveland reshaped its perimeter around Harden and Mitchell, Ball shifted from interesting upside if his knee holds up to contract you have to resolve by Thursday.
That’s where the injury history really comes in. This isn’t just a guy who missed a month; Ball lost two full seasons to that left knee, had a meniscus and cartilage transplant, and has been trying to build back toward who he was before playing with the Chicago Bulls. Even this past year, after finally getting back on the floor, his production was modest, his minutes were carefully managed, and every game carried the caveat of seeing how his knee would respond the following day. For a contender that just committed to Harden’s timeline and Mitchell’s prime, that’s not a bet you can treat as anything but a luxury — nice if it works, disposable if it doesn’t.
Here’s the thing, folks: When the Cavs found a path to ship Ball out, it fit exactly what most people expected leading into the deadline, a salary‑driven move where the real question was how the receiving team would view him. Was he getting acquired as a reclamation project who might actually play once he gets fully right, or as a contract that a team like Utah could waive, stretch, or just let run out while they focus on their own young core and new additions? Either way, from Cleveland’s side it was always about clearing space, cutting future tax, and fully committing to the Harden‑Mitchell build.
With that… This deadline played out almost exactly how you’d script it to for the Cavs. Harden arrives, Schroder slides in as the safer veteran guard, and Ball—through no real fault of his own beyond the cruel math of repeated knee surgeries—becomes the odd man out. The Cavs weren’t making some shocking philosophical pivot at the buzzer; they were executing on the logical final step of the plan they started the moment they decided to chase Harden, simply waiting to see which team would be willing to take on the risk attached to Lonzo’s name, whether to actually give him a shot or to move on from him cleanly.
If you cannot play with them, then root for them!