The Los Angeles Lakers held the No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft for the third consecutive season this past June, and for the second time they decided to use it on a point guard, selecting Lonzo Ball out of UCLA. Ball is pegged as the guy to turn the struggling Lakers franchise around, as they have not made the playoffs in four years.
The Lakers have not had a pure point guard like Ball since Magic Johnson though, and he seems to be the perfect guy to run the system that head coach Luke Walton wants to run, so Laker fans are very optimistic about what is to come in the future.
Former Laker great James Worthy recently compared Ball to his former teammate, Johnson, paying him the utmost respect saying that the Lakers have not had a talent like Ball since Johnson.
TMZ was recently able to catch up with Walton, and they asked him if he believes his point guard could be the next Kobe Bryant, Walton’s former teammate, and Walton said that “anything in life is possible.”
It is hard to compare Ball to a guy like Bryant, who was one of the best pure scorers in the history of the game, because that is not Ball’s game. Ball is a pass-first point guard who tries to get open looks for his teammates.
But in terms of popularity Ball is already more popular than Bryant was as a rookie coming into the league, as Ball is the most talked about rookie on social media since 2013 and perhaps the most hyped rookie since LeBron James.
While Laker fans would be ecstatic if Ball turned into the next Bryant, that may not be something that Ball is interested in as he recently chose James over Bryant causing a stir amongst Laker fans.
