Cavs sending Lonzo Ball to Jazz in three-team deal

The Jazz stayed busy Wednesday, agreeing to a pair of moves that are expected to be finalized as one three-team transaction, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Utah will acquire Lonzo Ball and two second-round picks from the Cavaliers, while sending center Jock Landale to the Hawks for cash considerations.

Per Tony Jones of The Athletic, the league is treating it as a single, coordinated deal.

Ball’s stay in Utah is expected to be brief. The Jazz are making the move strictly for draft capital and plan to waive Ball once the trade is completed, per Charania.

After clearing waivers, he’ll be free to sign anywhere except Cleveland.

For the Cavs, this was about flexibility. Ball never found his footing in Cleveland after arriving last summer as a hoped-for replacement for Ty Jerome, averaging career lows across the board.

With the Cavs prioritizing payroll reduction and apron management, moving Ball and his $10 million salary became an obvious lever, particularly after the recent additions of Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis.

The savings are significant. According to cap expert Yossi Gozlan, Cleveland will save roughly $65 million from this move alone and now sits just $3.9 million over the second apron.

In total, the Cavs have generated approximately $115 million in savings through recent transactions, positioning themselves to potentially avoid having a future first-round pick frozen.

Utah, meanwhile, continues to leverage its cap space. The Jazz had room to maneuver even after Tuesday’s Jaren Jackson Jr. blockbuster and used that flexibility to absorb Ball’s contract in exchange for Cleveland’s 2028 and 2032 second-round picks, per Jake Fischer of The Stein Line.

Utah will use the remaining portion of its John Collins trade exception to take Ball in, then move on.

Landale’s exit was always likely. Acquired earlier in the week, he wasn’t viewed as part of Utah’s long-term frontcourt and now lands in Atlanta, where he’ll provide depth for a Hawks team dealing with injuries up front.

Quiet moves on the surface, but ones that tell you exactly where each franchise’s priorities sit right now.