With Lonzo Ball and the Los Angeles Lakers winning three out of their last four games, they face another back-to-back situation this weekend against the Sacramento Kings and Atlanta Hawks.
As the Lakers and Kings are two of the fastest-paced teams in the league through 11 games, all eyes were expected to be on the matchup between Lonzo Ball and De’Aaron Fox. Much like it has since their rookie seasons.
Unfortunately, Ball suffered a mild ankle sprain in Friday’s practice and was listed as questionable against the Kings.
However, after successfully participating in Saturday’s shootaround, head coach Luke Walton said Ball, who wants to play, will be a game-time decision, according to Mike Trudell of Lakers:
Luke Walton said Lonzo Ball went through shootaround, and that “he wants to play” tonight against the Kings. They’ll re-evaluate him before the game starts before deciding for sure whether he’ll play, but it sounds like it was just a tweak.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 10, 2018
Since the 2017-18 NBA season, there has been a notion that Ball is ‘ducking’ Fox since the latter had 39 points against him in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. While Ball did play against Fox in two of the four games, he missed 30 total games during his rookie season.
As Ball makes his way back from offseason knee surgery, Fox has played well to begin his sophomore season. In 12 games, he is averaging 18.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 7.5 assists while leading the Kings to a surprising 7-5 record.
If Ball is unable to play, Rajon Rondo is expected to start with Lance Stephenson and Svi Mykhailiuk potentially playing backup minutes.