The Los Angeles Lakers held the No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft for the third consecutive season in 2017, and used it to select UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball, a local kid who played in Chino Hills just outside of Los Angeles.
NBA Summer League
Las Vegas, Nevada marks the beginning of Ball’s career with the Lakers. Thus far he has played three Las Vegas Summer League games with the team, improving markedly each game. So much that after just three games into his Lakers career, the expectations are already sky high for him in both Los Angeles and in Las Vegas, where he’s the favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year award per online sportsbook Oddsdigger.
To recap his summer league games thus far. Ball struggled with his shot in the first game against the Los Angeles Clippers, going just 2-for-15 from the field, scoring five points to go along with five assists and four rebounds.
His second game was a huge improvement, as he logged his first career triple-double, finishing with 11 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds, impacting many facets of the game against the Boston Celtics.
After missing the team’s third game due to a ankle injury, Ball returned for the first playoff game against the Philadelphia 76’ers. The Lakers fell behind in the first half, but from the midway point of the game Ball took over and went off for 36 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds, five steals and two blocks. Ball demonstrated what he is capable of on a basketball court, leading the Lakers to a 103-102 comeback victory in front of a very partisan Lakers crowd.
One person who is buying stock in Ball winning Rookie of the Year is his father, LaVar, as he recently said that it is a “done deal”. Las Vegas seems to agree with LaVars claims about his sons chances, and LaVar needs only to check of the odds at Oddsdigger for complete validation of his claims.