The Los Angeles Lakers decided to draft the heavily criticised and heavily analyzed 6 foot 6" point guard from UCLA with the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. Before draft day even ensued, Lonzo Ball was one of the most talked about athletes in all of America’s sport. Although his great talent and ability to play the game of basketball was a huge reason he received a lot of attention, a bigger reason may have been his father (LaVar Ball) who made many claims about how great his son is and will be, going as far as to say he is better than NBA stars including a guy named Stephen Curry.
Whether this was good or bad for his son's name, LaVar didn’t really care. He welcomed the spotlight on his family, and in doing so has made a lot of money from it. LaVar started his own brand named ‘Big Baller Brand,’ in which his sons’ (Lonzo, LiAngelo & LaMelo) have their own personalized shoes. Recently they started their own family TV series, seemingly inspired by the Kardashians. The interest in their family is huge, just like it is for the Kardashians, so it was a smart move by the Ball father to start a show.
But through all the off-court drama and attention Lonzo receives, he stays focused on what’s important to him, and that’s his basketball career which is played inside the court.
After the Lakers started the season with a record of 2-4, Lonzo talked about his confidence that his team can overcome the bad stretch and he also talked about Cleveland’s own, LeBron James.
Lonzo Ball clearly idolizes King James
Ever since Lonzo Ball was a teenager, he has talked about his love for his idol LeBron James. He has represented himself and tried to emulate his game to be similar to LeBron’s throughout his short career, proven with his all-around statistics this season.
After a shaggy start to the season for his team, Lonzo spoke to the media about how he responds to losses. He firstly credited his dad LaVar for how he had brought him up, and then he also briefly spoke about ‘The Chosen One’, who he has idolized and looked to for advice in his basketball journey. On taking the blame for losing games, Lonzo said, “My favorite player growing up is LeBron.
He still plays the same way to the day. He always takes [the blame].”
It’s unique that a player, especially a young rookie player, looks up to a veteran for the way in which he takes losses. But it seems Lonzo already has a very high IQ about the game of basketball.
Lonzo sees a bright future for LA
After a rough start to the season, going 2-4 in their first six games, the Los Angeles Lakers starting point guard still has a lot of hope for their season ahead. In their seventh game of the season, the Lakers picked up a 113-93 victory over the Andre Drummond led Detroit Pistons team, who themselves have had a solid start to the 2017-18 campaign.
Lonzo posted “If you not with us now don’t be with us later… we gone figure it out” on his Twitter account after their slow start. This suggests Lonzo Ball has great confidence the Lakers will turn their losses into wins and have a great season.
