Bulls send Lonzo Ball to Cavs for Isaac Okoro

Ken Blaze - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 7 hours ago

In the days after another blowout loss in the play-in round, the questions began about what was to come for this roster. This has been a team that has been stuck in neutral for the better part of the past five seasons, and it seems that reaching the play-in round is enough for this ownership group.

Well, perhaps those days are over as Arturas Karnisovas, whether you believe him or not, publicly said that some major changes were going to be coming to this roster, and some of those changes happened on the coaching staff. Although minor changes, they were changes nonetheless, but it's the roster changes that we have yet to see.

With Coby White, Lonzo Ball, Ayo Dosunmu, Nikola Vucevic, and Patrick Williams all mentioned as possible trade candidates, many are expecting the current roster of the Bulls to look drastically different at some point this season, as it has become a matter of when and not if some of these guys will be dealt.

Ideally, White and Dosunmu would be the ones you would love to hang onto, but both of them would land the Bulls a big return so that is something to keep in mind. With free agency right around the corner, the Bulls have indeed completed their first trade of the offseason as they have traded Lonzo Ball to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Isaac Okoro.

This is a feel-good story for Ball, who looked like his NBA career was over just one summer ago, only to bounce back in a big way this past season. The toughest pill to swallow when it comes to this deal is that the fans saw how good the Bulls could be when Ball was healthy. If you recall the season the Bulls brought him in, Ball was the engine that powered the Bulls' offense, as he helped Chicago race out to a 38-21 record and the top seed in the East midway through the season.

During that stretch, Ball was shooting better than 40% from distance while averaging 13.4 PPG, 6.2 APG, and better than five rebounds per game as he was giving them everything they could ask for and more. Then came a freak knee injury that initially appeared to be a day-to-day injury, but was later reported as a torn MCL, which would ultimately cause Ball to miss the rest of the season.

What happened next is where the heartbreak begins, as Ball went more than two years without stepping on the court again. A series of setbacks following that knee surgery put his career in doubt, and it started to become a question of whether he would ever play basketball again. Ball wasn't about to give up that easily, and through hard work, mental toughness, and a special surgical procedure, he not only returned to the court this past season but also demonstrated that he can still contribute to a team.

Granted, he will never be 100% again, but Ball is still a player that any team would be lucky to have, and now a contending team like the Cavs will have him on their bench. Although he was on a minutes restriction last season, Ball exceeded those minutes once he was inserted into the starting lineup before missing the final month with a wrist injury.

Limited to 35 games last season, Ball still showed what he had left in the tank as he averaged 7.6 PPG (9.8 PPG in nine starts), 3.3 APG, 3.4 RPG, and 1.3 SPG. He did that while still shooting close to 40% from distance, as Ball will give the Cavaliers a nice piece off the bench.

Heading Chicago's way as part of the deal is fellow guard and 24-year-old Isaac Okoro. The 6-5 shooting guard has been seen as a role player with Cleveland since coming into the season, but has also been used as a starter and a sixth man. He is coming off a down season, during which he averaged a career-low 6.1 PPG while playing in a career-low 55 games.

The Bulls are hoping to get more out of him than that, as this is a player who averages more than 65 games per season, with a significant portion of those games coming as starts. When healthy, Okoro is a player who can average double figures, having averaged 8.1 PPG across his career, but 10.5 when in the starting lineup. This is just the first domino to fall in what could be a flurry of preseason moves as the Bulls look to turn over a new leaf and transition to a new roster.