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Andrew LopezESPN
The Chicago Bulls and point guard Lonzo Ball have landed on a four-year, $85 million deal as part of a sign-and-trade agreement with the New Orleans Pelicans, Ball’s agent, Rich Paul, told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Monday.
For the Bulls, Ball slots in at a guard spot where he can grow around Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic as Chicago tries to take the next step to be competitive in the Eastern Conference.
As New Orleans shifted more to allowing Zion Williamson to run point in the offense, Ball’s role for the Pelicans became that of an off-ball wing who could control the offense in the open court and cede duties to Williamson in the half court. He’ll have the opportunity to get back to controlling things more with Chicago.
Ball, 23, has had an up-and-down four seasons since entering the league as the No. 2 overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2017. It was hard to live up to sky-high expectations in L.A. right away but once he got to New Orleans, things started to settle down. As a part of the Anthony Davis trade, Ball found new shooting life with the Pelicans. After shooting 31.5% from deep and 43.7% from the line in his two seasons with the Lakers, Ball has since upped those numbers to 37.6% and 66.4%.
In 2020-21, he averaged career highs in 3-point percentage (.378), field goal percentage (.414), free throw percentage (.781), true shooting percentage (.551) and points per game (14.6).
He also protected the ball like never before with a career-low 14.5 turnover percentage, while his usage percentage was also at a career high (20.5).
Ball has struggled with injury issues throughout his young career and has yet to play a full season in the NBA. He missed 65 games in his first two seasons with the Lakers and a combined 26 in the past two years with the Pelicans.
