Lonzo Ball Bio
Lonzo Anderson Ball, born October 27, 1997, is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A point guard standing 6 feet 5 inches and weighing about 190 pounds, he became one of the most talked-about young prospects in the country after a record-setting high school career at Chino Hills High School in California. After one standout season at UCLA, he was selected with the second overall pick of the 2017 NBA draft by his hometown team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Across his NBA career, Ball has played for the Los Angeles Lakers, the New Orleans Pelicans, the Chicago Bulls, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, building a reputation as a creative passer and perimeter defender. He is also widely known as the eldest son of LaVar Ball and the older brother of fellow NBA players LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball, a family whose story has shaped much of his public profile.
Early Life and Background
Lonzo Anderson Ball was born on October 27, 1997, in Anaheim, California, to LaVar Ball and Tina Ball, both of whom played college basketball. He grew up alongside his younger brothers, LiAngelo and LaMelo, and the trio were coached by their father in youth basketball before reaching high school. The family home in Southern California became the foundation for one of the most recognizable basketball stories of the 2010s.
Ball began playing basketball at the age of two and quickly developed a deep love for the game, idolizing LeBron James, whom he started following at about age six. That early devotion carried into his teen years, when he starred at Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, California. As a junior in 2014–15, he averaged 25 points, 11 rebounds, 9.1 assists, 5 blocks, and 5 steals, showing off the all-around skill set that would later define his reputation as a point guard.
By the time he signed a National Letter of Intent in November 2015 to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, Ball was rated as a consensus five-star recruit in the 2016 class. Major recruiting outlets ranked him among the top high school players in the country, capping a youth career shaped by family, faith, and relentless competition.
Path to Basketball
Ball’s path to professional basketball accelerated during his senior year at Chino Hills High School in 2015–16, when he led the Huskies to a 35–0 record and a state championship. Playing alongside his brothers LiAngelo and LaMelo, he averaged a triple-double of 23.9 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 11.7 assists per game. The Huskies were ranked the consensus No. 1 high school team in the nation, and Ball collected a sweep of national player of the year awards, including the Naismith Prep Player of the Year, the Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year, the USA Today Boys Basketball Player of the Year, and Mr. Basketball USA. He was also named a McDonald’s All-American and California Mr. Basketball.
Headed to UCLA, Ball stepped into a Bruins program looking to bounce back from a 15–17 season. As a freshman in 2016–17, he was one of 50 players on the preseason John R. Wooden Award watch list and quickly became the engine of the team’s offense. He later won the Most Valuable Player award at the Wooden Legacy tournament and was one of the nation’s most-watched freshmen alongside other future NBA lottery picks, including Markelle Fultz and Jayson Tatum.
Lonzo Ball Career
Early Career (2016–2017)
Ball’s first full year of national spotlight came at UCLA, where he led the Bruins to a 31–5 record and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. He led the nation in assists and set UCLA’s single-season record for assists, while also breaking Gary Payton’s 30-year-old Pac-12 freshman assists record. UCLA was eliminated in the Sweet 16 by Kentucky, but Ball’s lone college season firmly established him as a top NBA prospect.
He finished the year averaging 14.6 points, 7.6 assists, and 6.0 rebounds, and became the only NCAA Division I player since 1992–93 to shoot at least 70 percent from two-point range and 40 percent from three-point range in the same season. His haul of postseason honors included consensus first-team All-American, the Wayman Tisdale Award as the nation’s top freshman, Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, first-team All-Pac-12, and finalist status for the Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy, and Oscar Robertson Trophy.
Los Angeles Lakers Breakthrough (2017–2019)
The Los Angeles Lakers selected Ball with the second overall pick of the 2017 NBA draft, making him a centerpiece of the team’s young core alongside Brandon Ingram. He was named MVP of the 2017 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, where he averaged 16.3 points, 9.3 assists, 7.7 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks and posted two triple-doubles, the first by a rookie in Summer League history. Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson publicly called him the new face of the franchise.
As a rookie in 2017–18, Ball played 52 games, missing 30 due to shoulder and knee injuries. He still produced multiple triple-doubles, including becoming the youngest player in franchise history to record a triple-double at age 20 years and 15 days, breaking a record previously held by LeBron James. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team at the end of the season. His second year was shortened by a Grade 3 left ankle sprain in January 2019, and the Lakers shut him down for the remainder of the season in March.
New Orleans Pelicans Era (2019–2021)
On July 6, 2019, Ball was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans as part of the package that brought Anthony Davis to the Lakers. He made his Pelicans debut on October 22, 2019, and over the next two seasons developed into a more reliable shooter, peaking during the 2020–21 campaign under new head coach Stan Van Gundy. That year, he set career highs in scoring (14.6 points per game), three-point percentage (37.8 percent), field goal percentage (41.4 percent), and free throw percentage (78.1 percent).
Ball posted multiple high-scoring performances with the Pelicans, including a career-high 33 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves on May 1, 2021, and a tying 33-point effort against the Golden State Warriors on May 4, 2021. He hit a career-high eight three-pointers twice in 2020–21 and finished his Pelicans tenure as a restricted free agent, having grown into one of the league’s sharpest three-point shooting point guards.
Chicago Bulls Era (2021–2025)
On August 8, 2021, Ball was traded to the Chicago Bulls in a sign-and-trade deal and signed a four-year, $85 million contract extension. He opened the 2021–22 season with a triple-double against his former Pelicans team and was off to the best shooting season of his career, with career highs in field goal percentage and three-point percentage, before a left meniscus tear in January 2022 ended his year after 35 games. The Bulls finished the season as the top seed in the Eastern Conference during his time in the lineup.
Ball then underwent multiple surgeries, including arthroscopic debridement, a cartilage transplant, and a meniscus transplant, and missed the entire 2022–23 and 2023–24 seasons. He returned to the court in October 2024, more than 1,000 days after his last appearance, and made 35 regular-season appearances for Chicago in 2024–25, averaging 7.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists. On February 5, 2025, he and the Bulls agreed to a two-year, $20 million contract extension.
Cleveland Cavaliers Era (2025–Present)
On July 6, 2025, Ball was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Isaac Okoro, beginning a new chapter of his career. In 2025–26 with Cleveland, he appeared in 35 games, including three starts, and averaged 4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.9 assists while serving as a steady veteran presence in the backcourt. His playmaking and perimeter defense fit cleanly into a Cavaliers rotation looking for steady guard play.
On February 5, 2026, Ball was traded to the Utah Jazz and was waived the same day. Through it all, he remained one of the league’s most recognizable young guards, known for his passing, court vision, and family story as much as for his on-court production.
Driving Style and Strengths
Ball is best known as a pass-first point guard with exceptional court vision, ranking among the NCAA’s assist leaders and posting eight career triple-doubles in the NBA. He is a willing and effective perimeter defender who can defend at the point of attack and disrupt opposing backcourts, and his offensive game is built on transition playmaking and floor spacing. He famously rebuilt his jump shot after his first two NBA seasons, raising his three-point percentage from roughly 32 percent with the Lakers to 38 percent with the Pelicans and over 42 percent in his first season with the Bulls.
Notable Events and Milestones
Among the signature moments of Ball’s career, his senior year at Chino Hills, a 35–0 undefeated state championship, stands as the foundation. In the NBA, he became the youngest player in Lakers history to record a triple-double, joined LeBron James for a rare same-game triple-double in December 2018, and posted a career-high 33 points with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2021. His 2024 return to the court after missing more than two full seasons to knee surgery was itself a defining moment of perseverance.
Lonzo Ball Career Wins
Lonzo Ball’s win totals are spread across three major professional levels: high school, college, and the NBA. His most celebrated victory came in 2016, when he led Chino Hills High School to an undefeated 35–0 record and a California state championship. In the NBA, he has recorded regular-season and Summer League wins with the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers, along with multiple triple-doubles that rank among the brightest highlights of his pro career.
NBA Highlights
Ball’s NBA win column began with a 132–130 victory over the Phoenix Suns on October 20, 2017, when he scored a then career-high 29 points. Among his most memorable wins were his first career triple-double, against the Milwaukee Bucks on November 11, 2017, and a 127–109 win over the Denver Nuggets featuring 16 rebounds, the most by an NBA rookie guard since Steve Francis in 1999–2000. With the Pelicans, he scored a career-high 33 points in a 140–136 overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on May 1, 2021.
Other Wins & Performances
Beyond the NBA regular season, Ball earned the MVP award at the 2017 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and the Most Valuable Player honor at the Wooden Legacy tournament during his freshman season at UCLA. His UCLA Bruins went 31–5 and reached the Sweet 16 of the 2017 NCAA tournament, where Ball posted 18 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists in a second-round win over Cincinnati. He was also a McDonald’s All-American and the consensus national high school player of the year in 2016.
Lonzo Ball Family
Family Background and Racing Lineage
Ball comes from one of basketball’s most talked-about families. His father, LaVar Ball, is a former college player whose outsized personality helped build the Big Baller Brand, while his mother, Tina Ball, also played college basketball. Lonzo’s younger brothers, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball, both reached the NBA, and his cousin Andre Ball was part of the famous Chino Hills Huskies team that went 35–0 in 2015–16. The family’s visibility, both in sports and in entertainment, has shaped much of Lonzo’s public narrative.
Personal Life
Ball has been in a long-term on-and-off relationship with Denise García, with whom he has a daughter. In February 2017, his mother Tina suffered a stroke and was hospitalized for two months, an event Ball has often cited as a defining moment in his life. The Ball family also starred in their own Facebook Watch reality show, Ball in the Family, which premiered in August 2017 and gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at the household. In 2020, Ball competed on the fourth season of The Masked Singer as the character “Whatchamacallit.”
2025 Season Performance
Ball’s 2025 calendar year opened with a strong stretch for the Chicago Bulls, including a return to the starting lineup on January 12, 2025, his first start in nearly three years, and a season-high 18 points in a January 27 win over the Denver Nuggets. On February 5, 2025, he and the Bulls agreed to a two-year, $20 million contract extension, rewarding his perseverance through years of knee rehabilitation. He finished 2024–25 with 35 appearances for Chicago, averaging 7.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists.
On July 6, 2025, Ball was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he slotted into a backcourt rotation built around playmaking and defense. Across 2025–26 with Cleveland, he appeared in 35 games, including three starts, and averaged 4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. The Cavaliers’ pace-and-space system gave him room to focus on distributing and guarding perimeter scorers rather than carrying a heavy scoring load.
On February 5, 2026, Ball was traded to the Utah Jazz and was waived the same day, leaving his long-term plans for 2026 and beyond uncertain. Even so, his 2025 campaign represented another step forward in a career defined as much by resilience through injury as by his original standing as a No. 2 overall pick.
