Lonzo Ball Thinks Cavs Could've Reached NBA Finals If Team Didn't Trade Him and Darius Garland

Lonzo Ball believes that the Cleveland Cavaliers could have advanced to the 2026 NBA Finals if the team didn't trade himself as well as point guard Darius Garland earlier in the season.

"If you were trying to win a championship I don't think that was the path that you should've took," Ball said on Tuesday's episode of the Ball in the Family podcast (2:53 mark). "If you ask me, I think we would've went further. But that's just me, I'm always going to bet on myself."

"To me, it's gonna be hard to win when you don't have no identity," he added.

The Cavs advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018, but were swept by the New York Knicks.

On Feb. 3, they traded Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for James Harden before sending Ball to the Utah Jazz as part of a three-team swap one day later.

Ball couldn't find much consistency on offense with Cleveland before the deal, averaging just 4.6 points in 20.8 minutes per game on 30.1/27.2/66.7 shooting splits.

As for Garland, he excelled in Los Angeles after dealing with health issues earlier in the season. He averaged 19.9 points, 6.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 47.1 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from behind the arc on the Clippers.

Although Harden became a key piece of Cleveland's offense following the trade, he struggled in the Eastern Conference Finals.

In four games against the Knicks, he recorded 16.0 points and 3.0 assists compared to 4.3 turnovers per game while shooting 38.9 percent from the field and 17.9 percent from three-point territory.