Four Ways Lonzo Ball DOESN'T Get Drafted By The Los Angeles Lakers
We already had Cheolmin Im say that Lavar Ball was a low-key "pioneer for student athlete economics", which may or may not be true, depending on how you look at it. If that is the case, you can thank the elder Ball for giving better compensation.
But we also already know that's not going to fly with NBA teams. His big mouth already has chased off big shoe companies (for now) like Nike and Adidas, and has forced a $500 price tag for the ZO2, a signature shoe shoe based off the Big Baller Brand.
Spoiler alert: these shoes are NOT worth $500:
Seriously, I’d rather wear a pair of baseball cleats 24 hours, 7 days a week before I pay $500 for some shoes.
All of this is leading to Lavar Ball pushing (or forcing) Lonzo Ball—and most likely in the future LaMelo and Li’Angelo—to be drafted by the Lakers, who currently have the number two pick in this year’s draft. Heck, he has refused to let Lonzo work out with any other team BUT the Lakers, which could hurt his draft stock.
It’s fair to remember that even without Lavar’s mouth, Lonzo is one of, if not the best players in this year’s draft. While his defense has been rated well below average by critics, at least one-on-one, and his shooting other than the 3-point shot has been pretty bad, he still has the very good three-point shot, and his court vision and efficiency in passing is a skill that most players wish they had. Will he be the “bonafide star” that people say he’ll be at the number two spot? We will wait to see.
However, teams are not obligated to take Ball, and that includes the Lakers. Magic Johnson can simply say “nope” and take a De’Aaron Fox or Josh Jackson or a Markelle Fultz if the first two are (for some reason) taken with the Celtics pick. The Celtics and Lakers may also be content with D’Angelo Russell as their point guard for the future, and may look to a more pure shooting guard.
With that in mind, let’s look at four ways that the Lakers do NOT get Lonzo Ball in the draft.
(Quick note: this list does not take into account trading Lonzo during the draft. If the Lakers pick ball and then trade him, it still counts as drafting him. Vice versa, if another team picks Lonzo and then trade him to the Lakers, it does not count as drafting him.)
1. The Lakers Trade the Pick
Mainly, for Paul George.
That has been the rumor since the beginning of the season, and even Paul George has acknowledged this. And I’m going to be really honest: Paul George is probably a better fit for the Lakers right now than Lonzo Ball.
The only problem with this is that Brandon Ingram is too skinny at the moment to play power forward, despite Luke Walton playing him there at times, and is not a guard at all. Even then, Julius Randle or Larry Nance Jr. looks like the team’s future power forward. But Paul George himself has stated that he is confident that he could turn the Lakers around.
There may not be any question that George will be a Laker at least before the start of the 2018-19 season. Whether that means the Lakers trading a future asset in Lonzo Ball (or whoever that team ends up picking) or spending money in 2018 remains to be seen.
(There’s only one other possibility for this draft pick being traded, and that is if the Lakers somehow sign a superstar in the offseason, a la Lebron James.
If that somehow does happen, then would the Lakers be willing to part with that pick to trade for Russell Westbrook or another superstar?)
Probability: 40%
2. The Celtics Pick Him Instead
Let’s be totally honest. The chances of the Celtics picking Lonzo Ball are slimmer than the chances of a team coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the postseason in sports (sorry, Yankee fans).
But let’s say something randomly comes up: Fultz has an ailing knee injury, Fox has ankle surgery, Josh Jackson’s knees magically turn into Derrick Rose. Then what?
The Celtics likely go with Lonzo.
The point is though, Lonzo is NOT a good fit with the Celtics. Even his dad stated that the Celtics aren’t right for Lonzo, which is probably the only known fact that has come out of LaVar’s mouth.
Probability: 0.01%
But you know, maybe the Celtics don’t have to pick Lonzo for him to go number one overall…
3. The Celtics Trade The Number One Overall Pick
This is more of a hypothetical situation, for one reason: The last team to trade the number one overall pick before the draft (for the sake of my sanity, please do NOT mention the Nets) were the Philadelphia 76ers in 1986 after trading for Roy Hinson.
But the Celtics not only have the number one pick (thanks to the Nets), they had the best seed in the conference, and they have a great point guard who wants to stay as a Celtic in Isaiah Thomas, so they could afford to part away the number one pick. In fact, the team that trades for the pick, unless they’re in the middle of nowhere in terms of competing (ahem, Nets and Knicks), would probably be delusional.
Now let’s say that the hypothetical team trades their only superstar (let’s take the OKC Thunder and Russell Westbrook for a really bad example) for the number one pick in the draft. What’s stopping the Thunder from saying “You know, maybe Fultz isn’t the best player/best fit for our team, but Lonzo is,” and they pick Lonzo.
Do I actually believe that the Celtics will trade the number one pick before the draft? No. Is there a chance that it does happen for the right price (i.e. Paul George)? Absolutely.
Probability: 10%
4. The Lakers Simply Don’t Pick Him
Like I said before, no team is obligated to pick a player in the draft just because their crazy daddy says so. The Lakers really don’t have to pick Lonzo and could easily go in another direction.
The fact that he looked out of shape in his workout with the Lakers hurts his chances a little, because no one wants an out of shape player and a loud mouthed dad. At the same time, De’Aaron Fox and Josh Jackson are further from sure things than Lonzo is, so there isn’t much better other than Fultz and Ball in this draft.
If he doesn't get picked by the Lakers, then the next pick (Philadelphia) has basically said that they’re not taking Lonzo strictly because of his dad. So that should be a warning that maybe the other teams think the same way.
Maybe he falls right to the Knicks or, really hypothetically, my Nets…
Probability: 55%
Final Thoughts
This draft pick will essentially come down to if dealing with a loud mouth business man is really worth taking a talent like Lonzo. I would like to firmly believe that he’ll go number two, but there’s a probability that he doesn’t.
LaVar has to be prepared for that.