“I didn’t live up to expectations on the Lakers”: Lonzo Ball admits his stint with the purple and gold wasn’t as fruitful as Magic Johnson would’ve hoped

Lonzo Ball claims that he didn’t live up to the otherworldly expectations that were set for him when with the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Lonzo Ball should have never been selected with the 2nd overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. The oldest Ball brother had an otherworldly amount of weight pressing down on his shoulders from everyone in the media hyping him up to be the next Magic Johnson to Magic himself cracking jokes about Zo breaking his near half a century long assists records. 

The Los Angeles Lakers at the time were in their rebuilding phase and didn’t surround Lonzo Ball with enough talent to make himself as useful as he is today. Zo thrives in the open floor and the purple and gold barely had any downhill threats his rookie season. Moreover, it’s quite obvious that the coaching staff tried to mess around with his jumpshot in the worst possible way imaginable.

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It’s safe to say that getting out of the bright lights of TinselTown was the best thing to have happened to Zo. He developed his shooting and half-court awareness in New Orleans and is now thriving with the Chicago Bulls. 

Lonzo Ball on his time with the Lakers. 

It would’ve been impossible for nearly anybody with Lonzo’s game to live up to the expectations that were set for him when entering the league. The Bulls guard admits this in an interview with Jackson Frank. 

“This is my third team in five years and every team’s been a different experience for myself. Obviously, coming to LA, I was a young kid with a lot of expectations put on me that I didn’t really live up to and then, got shipped to New Orleans, where I worked on my game and improved the areas that needed the most help in.” 

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Lonzo Ball has now transformed himself into an asset that quite literally any team that wants to contend for a championship would want on their team. A 6’6 lockdown perimeter defender who can shoot over 40% from beyond the arc while also being extremely unselfish in the open court.