Los Angeles Lakers: Lonzo Ball discusses his exit interview

The Los Angeles Lakers have been holding their exit interviews with the season coming to an end. What did the organization say to Lonzo Ball?

It was a wild rookie season for Los Angeles Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball as expected in the 2017-18 season.

Coming out of UCLA, there was a ton of hype surrounding Ball, as his father proclaimed him as the next big thing coming into the NBA. While Ball wasn’t Michael Jordan in his rookie season, he was able to put together a nice first year.

Like most rookies, it was far from perfect for Ball. To start the season, his unorthodox shooting was a hot debate, as he struggled from the field. However, he improved his shooting percentage from the field as the season went on, and that certainly took a little bit of pressure off of him.

Unfortunately for Ball, injuries derailed his rookie season quite as a bit, as he missed good chunks of the season because of a few injuries. In his rookie year, Ball ended up missing 30 games, including the last few to end the season. Luckily, there isn’t any major injury for Ball heading into his offseason.

Recently Ball discussed what the organization said to him during his exit interview with Matthew Moreno of LakersNation.com. Here’s what he had to say.

"“Basically it’s just the biggest summer of my life,” said Ball of the message delivered by Johnson and Lakers general manager during his exit interview.“It’s time to transition now from rookie year to sophomore year. I’m looking forward to it, ready to put in the work and get after it. I think it’s exciting. For somebody like Magic and Rob to tell me that, pretty much tells me they believe in me."

Even though Ball had a good rookie season, there is still a ton of room for improvement, especially on the offensive end. Improving his shot will likely be his number one goal this offseason, as that needs to get more consistent. Also, his free throw shooting must improve from the awful 45.1 percent he shot last year.

Next: Analyzing goals from the start of the season

Like we saw with Brandon Ingram, the summer between a rookie and a sophomore season can result in a lot of growth for a player. Hopefully, Ball will be able to have a strong offseason and come back even better in his second season.