LeBron James’ Praise For Lonzo Ball’s Game Won’t Exactly Slow Down The LeBron-To-Los Angeles Hype

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers got the best of Lonzo Ball and the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. That was not a surprising development, as the Cavaliers are better than the Lakers, but it was nice to see the somewhat-maligned Ball play well while going up against one of the best teams in the league.

Ball had 13 points, 11 assists, and seven rebounds in the 121-112 loss. It wasn’t a monster game, but he had a perfectly fine showing in the evening’s marquee matchup. He also showed off some of his prodigious passing ability, as displayed on this pass to Brandon Ingram.

After the game, LeBron and Ball met up at midcourt for a “private” conversation that eventually got turned into a meme. And once it came time to meet with the media, LeBron took some time to rain praise down upon the rookie floor general.

Of course, seeing as how there is speculation that the Lakers could be one of the favorites to acquire LeBron this upcoming offseason — even if a recent report says that’s a longshot — him saying that the team’s franchise point guard is “someone that you want to play with” will almost certainly be turned into a sign from the heavens about his future plans.

But LeBron also seemed to understand that there’s this eagerness to take every move he makes and turn it into a source of speculation, which he discussed with the press.

LeBron has done this long enough to know that every word he utters will be picked apart like crazy, especially when he’s on the verge of potentially hitting the open market. He’s also a savvy guy and knows what he should and should not say to the media. This is not to say that anything should be gleaned from his comments about Ball’s game, but rather, maybe this is just a veteran who likes what a rookie does on the court giving that rookie some love and nothing more.

Or it can be a sign that LeBron is absolutely, positively, undoubtedly going to become a Laker. But probably not.