LaVar Ball has his reasons for wanting his son, Lonzo Ball, to end up with the Los Angeles Lakers.
And those reasons—well, his primary reason—doesn’t say much about the rest of the roster.
During an appearance on CSN’s Celtics Talk podcast (h/t For The Win), LaVar cited the Lakers’ lack of incumbent leadership as the impetus behind his belief that Lonzo is a great fit for them:
“Team-wise, I think that the Lakers are a better fit. They really don’t have a leader. Boston already went to the playoffs. They pretty much already have a leader. It’s just being realistic.”
This jibes with what Lonzo said after his workout for the Purple and Gold, per ESPN.com’s Jovan Buha:
Lonzo says the Lakers need "a leader, a point guard" and he believes he can fill that role: pic.twitter.com/TyVPbLKzGL
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) June 7, 2017
D’Angelo Russell must feel so special right now.
It’s true that Russell and Ball could coexist. Russell has flashed an ability to play off the ball, and both of them have the size necessary to switch between defending point guards and shooting guards. But this is such a weird thing to say.
They need a point guard? Um, no. Not necessarily. They need talent, the best possible talent, as is the case with any rebuilding team. But offense wasn’t the Lakers’ foremost issue last year, and they can do more than get by with Russell and Jordan Clarkson running the show.
This isn’t to say the Lakers’ necessarily agree with the takes of LaVar and Lonzo. But for Lonzo specifically, it’s an awkward, borderline bad, idea to low-key downplay the importance of what could end up being one of your future teammates.
