This is all news to Lonzo Ball.
The NBA veteran point guard reacted with a post on X on Sept. 23, disputing reports suggesting he is retiring.
“I retired? News to me lol cuz I’m still waiting for a call… NBA season long.”
The second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft out of UCLA, Ball is a free agent.
I retired? News to me lol cuz I’m still waiting for a call… NBA season long 🤷🏻♂️
— Lonzo Ball (@ZO2_) September 23, 2026
Gilbert Arenas asked Ball on the “Ball in the Family” podcast episode that posted Sept. 22 about battling injuries. Arenas was a guest on the podcast.
Ball’s answer may have opened the door for people to think he's done playing in the NBA.
"It wasn’t as hard as probably people would think only because I feel like I never short-changed the game,” Ball said. “I feel like I gave
everything I had to hoop. And I feel like 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, you feel me?”
Ball said he looks at his NBA career “halfway full” and not “halfway empty." He missed two full NBA seasons (2022-24) with a knee injury.
“You see where you’re supposed to be and you physically can’t get there,” Ball continued. “You’ve got to be comfortable with yourself to be honest with you. That’s how I am. I feel like, to be honest, I don't think I ever got to my peak.”
Ball averaged a career-high 14.6 points in the 2020-21 season with the New Orleans Pelicans.
The 6-foot-5-inch point guard delivered a career-best 7.2 assists as a rookie in 2017-18 with the Los Angeles Lakers and reached seven a game two seasons later in a career-high 63 games with New Orleans.
This was all before missing two seasons.
He returned in 2024-25 to average 7.6 points and a career-low 3.3 assists with the Chicago Bulls, but Ball averaged a career-low 4.6 points and 3.9 assists last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Ball never played more than 35 games in each of his last three seasons of actually playing basketball.
“Damn, that shit sucks, but at the same time, there's a lot of people that don't have meals at night to eat,” Ball added. “That's how I look at the world. So, it's like, I still got to make it up there and got to play and put the jersey on, and do everything I wanted to do as a kid. So that was enough for me to be happy.”
One could interpret Ball was announcing his retirement, but he’s since shot that down.
It is a long NBA season.
At some point during it, a team might contact Ball and present an offer that lures him back onto the court.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Retired? 'All news' to Lonzo Ball, responds on social media to reports
