Lakers guard Lonzo Ball is set to return to the court for the Lakers on Friday night, head coach Luke Walton confirmed today (Twitter link). Ball, who has been recovering from a knee injury, last played on January 15.
According to the Lakers (Twitter link), Ball won’t play in back-to-back games for the time being, which means he’ll sit out Saturday’s game against Sacramento. The rookie point guard will also be on a minutes restriction for now.
Still, Ball’s return is an encouraging step for a Lakers team that will be focusing on developing its young players like Ball, Kyle Kuzma, and Brandon Ingram down the stretch this season. It will also be interesting to see how the team splits minutes at point guard between last year’s No. 2 overall pick and Isaiah Thomas, acquired from Cleveland two weeks ago in a deadline deal.
As we noted earlier today, Ball has talked enthusiastically about teaming with Thomas, suggesting their styles make them an ideal match, since Ball is a pass-first point guard while Thomas is more of a shooter and scorer. Still, it’s not clear how often they’ll play together, or if they’ll both get a chance to start for L.A. during the last couple months of the 2017/18 season.
Ball needs somebody who can score because he can’t. PG in the NBA needs to be able to score as well as distribute the ball. He should be a better than 50% FT shooter also. Everybody used to go crazy about Shaqs FT average but I think was better than Ball is. They are professionals and they are free shots. Can they please shoot a hundred or so a day and earn a little of that big money with some work?
It has been so nice not having to see Ball’s Dad in the headlines every other day. I hope with Lonzo’s return it doesn’t mean loud mouth will be back.
As I’ve said all along, if IT transitions into a 2 guard, be more of a catch and shoot player, he may work in the long run for the Lakers
Meaning Lakers will then have zero chance of signing Lebron