The Los Angeles Lakers selected point guard Lonzo Ball out of UCLA with the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, giving them their point guard of the future.
Ball demonstrated what he is capable of in the Las Vegas Summer League, taking home MVP honors and leading the Lakers to their first ever summer league championship.
As a pass-first point guard Ball plays with a style that Laker fans have not seen since Magic Johnson was leading the Showtime Lakers to five championships in the 1980s, as he likes to play up-tempo and gets his teammates involved.
Players around the league are beginning to take notice, which could bode well for the Lakers in free agency in the future. If Ball keeps up his level of play once players will want to come to the Lakers just to play with him.
One NBA star who is a fan of Ball’s is Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant. In a recent podcast with Bill Simmons of The Ringer, Durant said that in his MyGM mode of NBA 2K he traded up to get the No. 1 pick in the draft to take Ball:
“I’m in GM mode, so when they came in, I had the Tar Heels, I uploaded them from the internet and I put them in a franchise, so they’re an expansion team in MyGM mode,” Durant shared. “I know it’s real deep, I’m like 16 years in on MyGM mode, I’m making trades. I traded for the No. 1 pick, I got Lonzo Ball and he’s the starting point guard for me.”
While it is unlikely that Durant would ever join the Lakers, as his Warriors are set up to compete for championships for many years to come, it is nice to see that he is a fan of Ball’s and trusts him enough to be the starting point guard on his created team.
Ball will look to build off his summer league performance in his rookie year with the Lakers. He and the Lakers will take on Durant and the Warriors for the first time on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at Staples Center.
