The outspoken LaVar Ball has made it crystal clear that he believes the only team that is tailor made for his son Lonzo, a potential top-two NBA lottery pick, is the Los Angeles Lakers. Ball has basically said this the minute his son declared for the NBA and the family is doing everything in their power to ensure that Lonzo ends up donning a purple and gold hat on draft night. So much so that the only team Lonzo has worked out for is the Lakers.
One reason the Ball family wants Lonzo to end up with the Lakers is so he stays locally in Los Angeles. But also because LaVar believes the Lakers don’t have a true leader on the court, a role that Lonzo he believes can immediately assume as a a rookie.
“Team-wise, I think that the Lakers are a better fit,” LaVar said on CSN’s Celtics Talk podcast. “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.”
LaVar has a point about the Lakers’ roster as there is really no one on the team who you can say is the main franchise guy. Of course the Lakers don’t really have a leader yet because the roster is filled with young players, who are still growing into their role. This also makes it seem unreasonable that Lonzo could immediately become the leader on the Lakers. But like his father, Lonzo believes that having a leadership role on the Lakers is part of his destiny.
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
“They have a lot of good players,” Ball said. “They just need a leader, a point guard, and I think I bring that to the team.”
Like his father, Lonzo is a confident young man and clearly believes in himself so his line of thinking isn’t too surprising. But while he can talk the talk, Lonzo must prove himself once he enters the NBA, whether that’s with the Lakers or another team.
