:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55243883/693503780.0.jpg)
The Los Angeles Lakers are doing all they can in the days leading up to the June 22 NBA Draft, taking a fine-toothed comb through prospects worthy of both the No. 2 pick and No. 28. With a host of group workouts done for the latter pick, all attention has begun shifting toward the lottery talents.
The Lakers have dined and worked out Lonzo Ball, traveled to Sacramento to attend a Josh Jackson workout, brought De’Aaron Fox in for a workout Tuesday morning and followed it up with a second workout with Jackson hours later. Now, they’re trying to finalize details to get a second look at Ball as well, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
That’s fairly substantial news, especially after the Lakers brought in Jackson for a second look. Clearly the front office isn’t trying to single out Jackson by having another chance to watch him on the court, also wanting to extend the same opportunity to Ball before draft day arrives.
It’s unclear when the Lakers will meet with Ball again, or if he will accept the offer — odds are he will considering he wants to be a Laker pretty badly — but it’s definitely worth noting ahead of time. The previous front office brought in players like Jahlil Okafor and D’Angelo Russell in for multiple workouts before deciding on Russell in 2015.
Reports coming out of the initial workout with Ball indicated that the Lakers weren’t overly impressed with him, questioning his conditioning. If so, he’s had a week or so to step his game up to make is case one last time to the Lakers.