The Cleveland Cavaliers were quiet, but not unremarkable, with their offseason additions of Lonzo Ball and Larry Nance Jr. However, both gambles represent some high risk, high reward scenarios in which the Cavaliers will be holding their breaths throughout the majority of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Those concerns were highlighted by Kevin O’Connor and Trey Kirby on a recent episode of the former’s podcast for Yahoo! Sports. The episode was uncomplimentary in its focus, highlighting NBA teams that nobody believes in, according to the show host.
O’Connor said, “With Lonzo Ball, there’s no guarantee he’s even going to be healthy. Same thing with Larry Nance Jr. I love the guy so much, he’s one of my favorite role players in the NBA. He also has had a lot of health issues, durability issues in the past as well.”
The NBA analyst would go on to describe the Cavaliers’ offseason changes as a ‘wash.’ Cleveland are certainly no strangers to having doubters. The concerns brought up here are not unjustifiable, even for the most optimistic onlookers.
Ball and Nance will need to rewrite the narrative for Cavaliers in 2025-26
Opening the offseason with the addition of Ball was a calculated and well-measured shot to take for the Cavaliers. Ty Jerome was on his way out, and his replacement has a clear path to success in Cleveland.
Ball helped a second-unit shift with his arrival. The focus with the bench has become much more fixated on two-way impact, which the former lottery pick can lead in 2025-26. That is, if Lonzo can stay on the court.
Ball was on the sidelines, unable to play basketball for over two full seasons. His return was promising and the evidence of a good player was still there. However, even his 2024-25 campaign was cut short by injuries. Granted, the severity was much less serious this time around.
Nance, meanwhile, has never played 70 regular-season games during an NBA campaign in his entire career. The highest total delivered by the veteran big man was 67 in his 2018-19 season in Cleveland.
Last year, Nance only played 24 games for the Atlanta Hawks. That was a shame, because when active, the big man was delivering strong results.
Nance averaged 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 44.7 percent from beyond the arc. The versatility brought forward by the 32-year-old would be much-needed for the Cavaliers.
In both of these cases, Cleveland will cling to the hope that injuries and ailments will not be what defines the 2025-26 season for either Ball or Nance. The gamble is fair. History cautions to have safety measures in place for when street clothes are donned.