Lonzo Ball landing with the Los Angeles Lakers is starting to feel like less and less of a formality.
The latest, in fact, is fairly damning. A source told Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz that, if the draft were today, the Lakers would pass on Ball for a variety of reasons:
Per source, the #Lakers would pass on Lonzo Ball if #nbadraft was today. Team isn't convinced he's a star and remains concerned about LaVar.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) June 3, 2017
Even if the Lakers’ feelings aren’t as definitive as they’re presented here, this tracks with The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski noting that Ball may work out with other teams. If his end destination was a lock, he wouldn’t be ignoring only the Boston Celtics.
For the Lakers, passing on Lonzo Ball is not blasphemous. They have D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson, and someone like Josh Jackson makes far more sense from a biggest-need perspective. They need more wing defenders, and a Jackson-Brandon Ingram pairing in the frontcourt should be highly effective down the line.
Do the Lakers have the guts to pass on someone who is considered the second-best prospect in the draft, behind only Markelle Fultz? Who knows. This could be all noise. We get a lot of that this time of year. But if they do pass on him, some of the teams behind them have an interesting decision on their hands.
Do the Philadelphia 76ers take him? Do the Phoenix Suns? Could Ball feasibly fall to the Sacramento Kings at No. 5? If he gets past the Lakers will we see feverish attempts from teams like the Kings, Orlando Magic (No. 6), New York Knicks (No. 8) and Dallas Mavericks (No. 9) to trade up?
The draft is on June 22—less than three weeks from now. We won’t have to wait much longer for the answers to our questions.
