Lakers are happy with the hype surrounding rookie Lonzo Ball
Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonzo Ball poses for a picture during the NBA basketball team’s media day in El Segundo, Calif., Monday, Sept. 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — He has a Facebook reality show and a family shoe brand. His dad talks big on ESPN. He was the No. 2 overall draft pick and expects to transform one of the NBA’s glamor franchises.
Other than that, Lonzo Ball is an ordinary teenager.
The 19-year-old guard comes with otherworldly expectations, with the Los Angeles Lakers having fallen on hard times. They hope the local product can help them rejoin the NBA’s elite.
Ball’s journey officially begins Tuesday when the Lakers open training camp, but he appears to have already won over his new teammates during summer workouts.
“When you play with a pure point guard like that, it just makes it easier for everyone,” center Brook Lopez said. “He elevates players to a whole other level.
“I know it’s going to be great for me, just being on the receiving end of his passes. He’s going to gift-wrap baskets for me. He’s so good at turning other players into impact, amazing players. He’s going to be a transcendent talent.”
That has been the plan all along, particularly from his outspoken father LaVar Ball, who almost seemed to will his son’s journey from Chino Hills High School to UCLA to the Lakers.
If Lonzo Ball seems to arrive with the trappings of circus, he appears the calm in the center of the storm.
“Honestly, Zo is relaxed,” forward Julius Randle said. “Zo is chill. He’s one of the guys. For as much as he has going around him, you would never know.”
Ball doesn’t say a lot himself, and what he does say comes out in rapid-fire fashion. Reporters circled around some eight deep Monday at the team’s media day, but Ball appeared to take it in stride.
“I’ve been kinda like this my whole life, so I really don’t feel anything to be honest,” he said. “It’s just playing a game, the game I love.”
That approach has hardly gone unnoticed by legendary point guard Magic Johnson, now the Lakers’ president of basketball operations.
“I told him, he’s just like me,” Johnson said. “When I came here there were a lot of expectations put on my shoulders and the Lakers as an organization. Now I’m his boss, but I’m also his big brother.”
When those comments were relayed to Ball, the rookie responded: “More like an uncle. He looks older than my brother.”
It was a rare glimpse of the sense of humor that teammates say is not uncommon when the cameras are off.
As for those lofty expectations? Like most everything else, Ball just shrugs and flashes a hint of his confidence.
“I think I’ll be fine,” he said. “I’ve been playing basketball my whole life and I’m pretty good at it.”
