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Lonzo Ball is likely less than 24 hours away from having his name called by the Los Angeles Lakers, and the projected No. 2 pick of the 2017 NBA Draft isn’t wasting any time getting down to business. Ball’s already being bombarded by the LeBron James question before he’s been drafted by Los Angeles, and before LeBron can even leave the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Lonzo and the rest of the green room invitees for the big day on Thursday have all descended upon New York, set for their date with destiny and a handshake with Adam Silver. The next batch of superstar hopefuls is making its round with media, holding open court with reporters and linking up with ESPN for some lead-up content into the draft.
Ball, who may not be the top prospect but certainly has the most name recognition out of the incoming class, jumped on SC6 with Jemele Hill and Michael Smith on the eve of the NBA Draft to discuss a variety of random topics. One not so random subject did come up, though. How would he go about recruiting LeBron to the Lakers?
"Hey LeBron. I like to win, I know you like to win. I think our games can help each other a lot and any time you want the ball, just let me know. It's going to be there,” Ball said.
Thankfully, the Lakers won’t be relying on Lonzo’s... pitch... when and if they pursue James in the summer of 2018. To be fair, he was put on the spot and it was a light segment that didn’t leave room for much more than that.
Ball also sat down with Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times Wednesday, going a bit more in-depth about where his head’s at one day before the biggest moment of his career. Lonzo alluded to it being “crazy” that he could someday play with his “favorite player” LeBron or Paul George (via Los Angeles Times):
The truth is, he has thought about that. He’s thought about what his future team might look like. He’s marveled at the idea that his favorite player, LeBron James, could be a teammate.
“The thought of that is crazy,” he says, smiling again. “My favorite player, the best player in the world. When you get to hear I might be able to play with LeBron, Paul George, it’s crazy. Until it happens, I don’t know. If it happens I’ll be happy. I don’t know what else to say.”
A player that hasn’t been drafted to the Lakers is recruiting a superstar free agent to Los Angeles before his contract is up. Just another day for the purple and gold.