The Lakers have had most every major NBA Draft prospect come through the doors of their practice facility over the past two weeks. Lonzo Ball was the first and most notable, as he has long been the presumptive No. 2 overall pick, but the Lakers have ensured they do their due diligence on the matter by bringing in Josh Jackson and De’Aaron Fox as well.
Projected top overall pick Markelle Fultz will also join the Lakers for a workout on Thursday, in what will be his only non-Celtics pre-draft workout.
Markelle Fultz will workout for Lakers Thursday as @Mike_Bresnahan 1st reported. No word yet on day when Lonzo Ball in for 2nd workout
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 14, 2017
The Lakers will be prepared for all scenarios and there is plenty of smoke that they could go in a direction other than Lonzo Ball, but the UCLA star remains the favorite to go second on June 22. There were reports after Ball’s first workout that he didn’t blow the Lakers away and that some were even concerned about his conditioning, so on Friday, Ball will look to lock up his status as the No. 2 with a second workout for the Lakers’ brass at an undisclosed location outside of the Lakers practice facility.
Lonzo Ball's second workout with the Lakers is being scheduled for Friday. I'm told it will not be at the Lakers facility.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) June 14, 2017
According to Shams Charania of The Vertical, the Lakers will watch Ball go through his full offseason training regimen and then meet with Ball and company afterwards. That’s a good indicator that Ball is still very much on the Lakers’ mind to be their first round selection, and if he can perform better in his own environment, he might be able to seal the deal. Other prospects that have worked out for the Lakers have said that much of the focus on the Lakers’ side has been on testing their weaknesses, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that prospects have yet to blow them away.
Now, Ball will have a chance to show them what he does in his own workout with the things he is most comfortable with. If he can’t blow them away with that opportunity, then there might be a bit of a problem.
