The Los Angeles Lakers have made UCLA star Lonzo Ball their No. 2 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. There had been some rumors over the past days and weeks that magic johnson and company might pass up the young star from the Chino Hills area, but it's now official. With that, the Bruins standout joins a Lakers team that just traded away one of their previous top picks in D'Angelo Russell to make room for the future star guard. Here's the latest on Ball joining the Los Angeles Lakers.

What Ball brings the Lakers

While there are some questions revolving around Lonzo Ball's skills and his father's involvement in his career before it's really started, he offers quite a bit to any team.

Ball is not like the common guard of today's NBA who enjoys scoring first and foremost. He's been compared to Jason Kidd because of his basketball IQ to make smart plays. Basically, he wants to elevate everyone around him and isn't considered about running up his points on the stat sheet.

In his freshman season for UCLA, Ball put up 14.6 points per game, dished out 7.6 assists on average, and grabbed about six rebounds per game. He helped lead UCLA into the NCAA Tournament, where they eventually lost to the Kentucky Wildcats. Some analysts quickly jumped on the fact that fellow NBA prospect De'Aaron Fox of the Wildcats outplayed Ball, but keep in mind both kids will have plenty of time to mature.

In particular, Ball may benefit from the added mentoring of Magic from the front office.

There's also the financial impact. Since Ball's already from Chino Hills in California and has played for UCLA, he'll bring that fan base with him. It'll generate more interest in the team, create more ticket sales, lead to Ball's jersey sales possibly skyrocketing, and of course other deals.

His father's "Big Baller Brand" could also take off thanks to the deal but mainly having a star who is already known from the L.A. area is huge for Magic's franchise.

The Lakers' future

Lonzo Ball brings a talented point guard playmaker to the L.A. Lakers lineup. They've already got two bright stars in Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram.

Of those two, it's been said that Ingram has a lot of future potential that's not yet been realized. The team has been struggling since the departure of longtime star Kobe Bryant, but now has a potential star in Lonzo to build around.

In addition, the Lakers just traded away guard D'Angelo Russell along with the hefty contract that big man Timofey Mozgov was attached to. In exchange, they've added big man Brook Lopez to the lineup to help the younger stars. With that, it appears the Lakers' front office is clearing the way for a payout for Ball, or even to sign a top free agent since the Indiana Pacers' Paul George has declared his interest in heading to L.A. after the coming season.
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