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Los Angeles Lakers: Three players that will be under the microscope

By Jason Reed

CLEVELAND, OH - DECEMBER 14: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lonzo Ball #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers embrace during the first half at Quicken Loans Arena on December 14, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - DECEMBER 14: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lonzo Ball #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers embrace during the first half at Quicken Loans Arena on December 14, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

3. PG Lonzo Ball

Lonzo Ball entered his rookie season last year with the biggest spotlight that any rookie had seen since LeBron James came into the league out of high school. While Ball was not as heavily anticipated as James, the pure hype around him made him a household name before he ever stepped foot on an NBA court.

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Ball had a bigger spotlight than first overall pick Markelle Fultz and any other rookie drafted in the 2017 NBA Draft. It was not until the season was in full swing, when Donovan Mitchell and Ben Simmons battled for Rookie of the Year, that the rookie spotlight was taken off Ball.

Most of this is due to his father, LaVar Ball, who hyped his son up as someone better than Stephen Curry. And while that could get annoying for the common NBA fan, LaVar did exactly what he intended to do by raising his son’s stock and giving him an even bigger spotlight than playing in LA does.

Because of this, Ball was heavily scrutinized last season despite not putting up bad numbers. The modern NBA is obsessed with scoring and since Ball was not a proficient scorer he was not viewed by many as a great rookie.

However, Ball showed that he could not only run the offense but be an elite rebounding point guard as well as a sneaky good defender. Ball has worth that will only grow as his jump shot develops.

He is going to be under the microscope this season to see how his style of ball conforms with LeBron James, who often runs the offense and is ball dominant. This does allow James to play more off-ball but he may also need an elite scoring point guard to rely on late in games.

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It will not be how good he is, as the better he is the more his trade value rises. Instead, the Lakers will be watching how good of a fit Ball and LeBron are. If the fit is not natural, the Lakers may opt to pull the trigger on trading Ball for an elite point guard, such as Damian Lillard, or whoever is on the table.

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