The spotlight burns bright as Lonzo Ball has a rough go of it in his professional debut
LAS VEGAS — In the moments following his professional debut, Lonzo Ball felt the weight of being the second overall pick in the 2017 draft and the anointed the future of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. When Ball emerged from the team’s locker room, he looked up and began to shake his head at the throng of reporters and cameras waiting for his arrival to the empty blue backdrop.
A Lakers public relations representative, sensing this reluctance, ushered him to the center, but Ball had already spent much of Friday handling the limelight on the NBA Summer League stage.
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The Lakers lost, 96-93, in overtime to the Los Angeles Clippers Summer League roster, but in front of a nearly sold-out crowd at Thomas & Mack Center, Ball flashed both promising signs of his point guard potential as well as red flags with an awkward jumper that needs tweaking for the pro game.
Though Ball opened the game by casually lobbing his first of five assists for an alley-oop to teammate Brandon Ingram, he spent the next 32 minutes misfiring from the perimeter. Ball made only 2 of 15 field-goal attempts, which included a 1-of-11 performance from beyond the arc. Ball finished with five points.
