Lonzo Ball indicated he may be done with basketball at 28, saying he gave everything he had to the game after nine NBA seasons and years of serious knee injuries.
Lonzo Ball appears to be signaling the end of his playing career at just 28 years old after nine NBA seasons and years of serious knee problems.
“I feel like I gave everything I had to hoop, and I feel like everything I got in my life is because of hoop,” Ball said on the Family Podcast. “I’m grateful to even make it to the league and be able to play for nine years.”
Ball has not formally announced his retirement, but his comments strongly suggested that he may be ready to move on from basketball.
The former No. 2 overall pick spent nine NBA seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers. He was named to the All-Rookie Second Team after his first season in Los Angeles.
Looking back at his career, Ball also admitted that injuries prevented him from reaching the level he believed was possible.
“I don’t think I ever got to my peak, and damn, that shit sucks,” Ball said. “But at the same time, there’s people that don’t have meals at night to eat. That’s how I look at the world.”
Credit Getty Images via AFP – Scanpix
Knee injury changed Ball’s career
Ball’s career took its biggest turn during the 2021-22 season with Chicago.
He suffered a left knee injury in January 2022 and eventually underwent multiple procedures. After the initial surgeries failed to solve the problem, Ball underwent a meniscus and cartilage transplant in March 2023.
The injury forced him to miss the entire 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons before he returned to NBA action with Chicago in 2024-25. He appeared in 35 games that season, averaging 7.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists.
Chicago traded Ball to Cleveland in the summer of 2025 for Isaac Okoro.
In what could prove to be his final NBA season, he averaged 4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.9 assists in 20.8 minutes per game for the Cavaliers.
Cleveland later traded Ball to the Utah Jazz in February 2026 as part of a three-team deal. Utah waived him the following day, making him a free agent.
His most recent NBA appearance came on Feb. 1 against the Portland Trail Blazers.
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