Lonzo Ball Addresses His 'Retirement Announcement'

September 23, 2026
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Lonzo Ball was the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. His career, however, never got to where it could have gone due to a chronic and mysterious knee injury that knocked him out for close to three years. On Wednesday, he made comments on a podcast that sounded very much like a retirement announcement. Listen for yourself:

“I felt like I never shortchanged the game. Like I felt like I gave everything I had to hoop, and I felt everything I got in my life is because of hoop. So I’m grateful to even make it to the league and even be able to play for nine years."

He went on to admit that being cut down by injuries was a tough break, but it could have been worse.

"You see where you’re supposed to be, and then you physically can’t get there… To be honest, I don’t think I ever got to my peak. And it's like, damn, that sh** sucks. But at the same time, there's a lot of people that don't have meals at night to eat. 

"I still got to make it up there and got to play and got to put the jersey on and do everything I wanted to do as a kid. So that was enough for me to be happy."

Hmm... Kinda sounds like a retirement acknowledgement, doesn't it? 

But once the retirement buzz started making the rounds early on Wednesday, Ball, still only 28, himself took to social media to call off the hounds. 

"I retired? News to me lol cuz I’m still waiting for a call… NBA season long."

Ball has been an unsigned free agent ever since the Utah Jazz waived him after acquiring him in a salary-dumping trade by the Cavaliers. 

Last season, in 35 games with Cleveland, he played an average of 20.5 minutes a night, with 4.6 points per game, 3.9 assists and 1.3 steals. His shooting from long range was abysmal, however, at 27.2%. He's a career 35.5% shooter from three-point range, with 10.6 ppg and 5.6 assists per game.


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