LeBron James had high praise for Lonzo Ball after the Los Angeles Lakers teammates each recorded a triple-double in Saturday’s 128-100 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
Per Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times, James believes the Lakers’ second-year point guard has a lot of the same traits as he does:
“We’re one and the same when it comes to our playmaking ability. We’re always looking for our teammates and that’s the greatest satisfaction we can have when we see our teammates score the ball. We’ve always been pretty good rebounders for our position, him at the guard spot, me at the forward spot. And then being able to put the ball in the hole as well. We just try to be aggressive, attack the rim, make shots from the outside when guys disrespect us and we showed all of that tonight.”
Ball is still trying to find consistency as a shooter—his 39.2 field-goal percentage is tied for 350th out of 464 players—but he’s averaging 6.6 rebounds and 6.3 assists per 36 minutes.
James overwhelms everything when he’s on the floor because he controls the ball. It’s up to him to decide when he wants to shoot and when to facilitate.
Ball has always been an excellent distributor of the basketball. He would have finished in the top 10 in assists per game as a rookie (7.2) among qualified players if he hadn’t missed 30 games due to injuries.
The Lakers have found their mojo with 14 wins in their last 19 games. James is the anchor of that success, but Ball’s contributions on both ends of the floor make him an indispensable asset for the team.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
