Friday night represented the Lakers debut of second overall pick Lonzo Ball. Unfortunately for Ball and fans in attendance, he did not have his best performance.
Ball made only two of his 15 shots, finishing with five points, five assists, four rebounds, and two steals as the Lakers dropped their Summer League opener to the Clippers 96-93. Ball got off to an excellent start, delivering a pinpoint pass to Brandon Ingram for an alley-oop on the Lakers first possession, but it was all downhill from there.
No one was more disappointed in his performance than Ball himself, but he is already itching to make fans forget about his debut. After the game, Ball sounded intent on making sure he improves from here on out according to Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Lonzo on his SL debut: "Only way I can go now is up, that will probably be the worst game I have all week, hopefully I keep getting better."
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) July 8, 2017
Ball definitely has the right idea and the good news for him is that he won’t have to wait long to redeem himself. The Lakers are right back in action against the Boston Celtics on Saturday night and it will be pretty difficult for Ball to shoot worse than he did on Friday.
There were still some positives to take away from Ball’s performance on Friday. His vision was on full display and him constantly pushing the ball ahead with great outlet passes led to many Lakers baskets or fouls. He was also active on defense with active hands, though there is still much room for improvement there as well.
Nonetheless, Ball understands that his performance simply wasn’t good enough. It is only summer league, which is far from the best indicator of future success in the NBA, but Ball plans on making fans forget about his less than stellar debut.