– Lonzo Ball
Even though a good chunk of the rotation is out for the Lakers on Friday night, they will have Lonzo Ball in the lineup. Ball underwent a knee surgery in the summer, but made his highly anticipated return against the Warriors earlier in the week. Due to the Lakers wisely being careful with Ball, he played 23 minutes.
However, despite missing a lot of time, Ball looked pretty good. From a physical standpoint, he didn’t show any signs of fatigue, and he certainly looked like he put on the 20 pounds of muscle. In the win, Ball totaled seven points, four rebounds, two assists, and four steals. Ball was able to use some of his new muscle to get to the basket with a bully ball move, and he also knocked down a long two.
On his first shot, Ball did shoot an airball from three-point range, but that could have been due to some jitters for his first game in a long time. With this being his final tune-up before the preseason, it is good to see that Ball is back out there and that there were no issues with the knee. Don’t expect to see a ton of Ball on Friday night, but another 20-25 minutes from him should be a good number