Rumors about LeBron James possibly joining the Los Angeles Lakers next summer have been rampant for some time now.
Rookie Lonzo Ball would undoubtedly love to team with LeBron, who he has admitted was his favorite player growing up.
Of course with the Lakers currently dealing with tampering charges about possible illegal contact with now-Oklahoma City Thunder forward Paul George, the last thing the Lakers need is any other issues. Ball pretty clearly understands that.
At the recent NBA rookie photoshoot Ball was interviewed by Sports Illustrated’s Rohan Nadkarni who asked him a number of questions about LeBron. Ball expertly avoided all of them:
.@RohanNadkarni tries so hard to get Lonzo to talk about LeBron, but he just won't take the bait ???? pic.twitter.com/51w95VCo1P
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) August 22, 2017
Obviously, Nadkarni was doing this jokingly as both he and Ball were laughing as the questions piled up. Generally, the NBA overlooks players recruiting others, but with the Lakers under scrutiny right now, Ball was right to just play it safe.
What was also impressive was Lonzo’s quick thinking to evade the questions. Whether it was simply expressing confidence in his front office to ‘make the right decisions’ in free agency next summer, or remembering that Floyd Mayweather Jr. was also in attendance during Summer League, Ball showed an expert skill in avoiding all of the questions.
The Lakers will undoubtedly be pursuing James in free agency next season as they try to carve out room for two max free agents to pair with their exciting young core led by Ball and Brandon Ingram. Whether they will be able to do so remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, Ball won’t be caught off-guard by anything the media throws at him this season.
