LaVar Ball insists Lonzo Ball-led Lakers would’ve won championships by now

During the 2017 NBA Draft cycle, Lonzo Ball drew all the hype in the world. He was “Stephen Curry with a 40-inch vertical”, as that one YouTuber had him as. Ball was also being hyped up left, right, and center by his father LaVar. To his credit, Ball had a good season at UCLA, which convinced the Los Angeles Lakers to select him with the second overall pick in 2017.

This, of course, led to the Lakers missing out on Jayson Tatum, who is a huge Kobe Bryant fan and would have loved nothing more than an opportunity to follow in his idol’s footsteps. Nonetheless, Ball had all the makings of a winning player, as he was proficient from beyond the arc and had passing chops for days.

He, of course, ended up playing just two seasons for the Lakers, with LA trading him away in the Anthony Davis deal back in 2019. But for LaVar, this was a huge mistake on LA’s end, as he believes that they would have had multiple titles already had they just kept him.

“He’s been groomed to make everybody better. Right, from UCLA days, the Chino Hills days,” LaVar said in an appearance in the Ball in the Family podcast.

“How you make the best team? You got to have that piece right? Make everybody go. Average a triple double, but you got to let him go. Everybody who’s balling out of control came from the Lakers. Zo had them all running. They would’ve had championships by now.”

Lakers would make that trade 10 times out of 10

The Lakers ended up winning the championship with Davis in his first season with the team, automatically making their trade for him a worthwhile one. Ball, on the other hand, lasted just two seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans before signing with the Chicago Bulls in free agency.

Since then, Ball’s career has been derailed by injuries, and he’s currently unemployed from the NBA after no team has picked him up since being waived by the Utah Jazz after a Cleveland Cavaliers salary dump.

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