2017 NBA Draft Rumors: Lakers aren’t deciding whether or not to draft Lonzo Ball ‘based on a workout’

There have been a lot of whispers about Lonzo Ball’s pre-draft workout with the Los Angeles Lakers over the last few days.

First there was a report that he didn’t blow the Lakers away.

Then more information dropped, this time suggesting the Lakers weren’t thrilled with Ball’s conditioning.

Monday morning more information came to light, suggesting none of Ball’s pre-draft workouts have went particularly well.

However, anyone assuming whatever sub-par workouts Ball is reportedly having are effecting his draft stock should cool their jets. While yes, workouts are important, most NBA teams look at a player’s larger body of work, and the Lakers are reportedly no different.

In fact, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reports that the Lakers are saying “no one is being drafted or not drafted based on a workout” because the front office has “done a ton of work on this draft class.”

This really shouldn’t be that surprising. In fact, it would be a lot more surprising (and dangerous) if the Lakers were basing their decision on a player’s workout and valuing that more than the mountains of other data and film they have on that player.

Is it possible that Ball looked bad in his workout? Sure, and the Lakers should somewhat take that into account if they think he and another player are exactly the same caliber and that other hypothetical player has a much better workout.

But if the Lakers thought Ball was the significantly better prospect going in, there should be very little way he could mess up a workout badly enough to make them not take him.

We’ll know what they choose to do when they make their pick June 22.

Here is an updating list of every player the Lakers have worked out or met with. Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here, or listen to our latest, Lonzo-centric episode below), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.