By now it is well-known that Lonzo Ball, as well as the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers, had a pretty rough opening night against the Los Angeles Clippers, falling 108-92.
Clippers point guard Patrick Beverley let Ball know it all night as he hounded the rookie and trash-talked him during, and even after the game. Beverley even revealed that he told Ball to be ready for other players to come after him as well.
Despite all of that, Ball remained his calm, confident self. And he told Shams Charania of The Vertical, he will be ready to lead these Lakers back to relevance and its winning ways:
“I’ll be ready,” Ball told The Vertical. “I have to show it in my game, because when we win, people won’t talk. But if we lose, people will think it affects me. It’s wins and losses for me. We know it’s a process.”
It is undoubtedly a long process for Ball and his Lakers teammates as everyone struggled Thursday night. Ball made only one of his six shots, finishing with just three points, but did add nine rebounds and four assists as he looked to impact the game in any way he could.
The pressure is on the rookie to perform, even if expectations could be unfair at times. His father, LaVar, has already seemingly made enemies for him in the NBA, while Magic Johnson has declared him the face of the Lakers. Fellow rookies performing well will only serve to place even more pressure on Ball, but he has never seemed to let anything bother him.
He has embraced everything that has been thrown at him and he plans to succeed through it all. It may have not gone how he wanted it on Thursday, but there is a long season ahead.