Los Angeles Lakers Rumors: Lonzo Ball Fails to Impress During Workout
It certainly looked like Lonzo Ball was Los Angeles-bound when the Lakers jumped up a spot in the draft lottery and landed the second overall pick last month. However, a lot has happened since then.
Ball had to show the Lakers that he was better than Josh Jackson and De'Aaron Fox during his workout last week if he wants them to pick him. Unfortunately, he failed to do that.
Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding reported that Ball didn't blow away the Lakers during his pre-draft workout with the team. He did have a good meeting with them, but it will take more than that to convince them that he's the one they should draft.
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According to Mark Medina of the OC Register, Ball doesn't seem to be in shape during the workout.
"Many qualities have made the Lakers impressed with Ball, including his leadership potential, passing and scoring. They are not impressed, however, with his level of conditioning," Medina said in his report.
Medina went on to say that the Lakers were "mindful of not overreacting to individual workouts" since Ball didn't get the chance to showcase most of the skills that made him one of the top prospects this year.
Meanwhile, during an appearance on CSN's "CelticsTalk" podcast, Ball's father, LaVar, talked about why his son turned down a workout with the Boston Celtics, the team with the first overall pick in this year's draft.
LaVar explained that the Celtics already have a leader in Isaiah Thomas and they don't need Ball to run the offense with him around. On the other hand, the Lakers are still looking for someone to lead their young core of players.
"Now going straight to the Lakers, they're super-young. It's Lonzo's team; that's my opinion of it," LaVar said during the interview.
LaVar made it clear that he prefers to see his son play for the Lakers, but he also noted that it's fine if he doesn't end up playing in Los Angeles.
In any case, Ball should be a top-five pick in this year's draft.
