LeBron James and Lonzo Ball have shown flashes of how far they can go together on the Los Angeles Lakers.
When LeBron James made his move official to the Los Angeles Lakers, rumors began to swirl as to what would happen to Lonzo Ball. With LeBron known for being ball dominant, how on earth could a 30 percent three-point shooting point guard survive next to Lebron?
Much like his days with Dwyane Wade on the Miami Heat, there are creative ways to make it work, and Lakers fans are starting to get a glimpse of the possibilities.
In his first season with Banana Boat buddy, Wade shot a Lonzo-esque 30.5 percent from downtown. This never became an issue because both players were in their athletic prime, resulting in dozens of other ways they duo could get things done. While Lonzo is no slouch athletically, he does lack the explosiveness that Wade was capable of at his peak.
At this point in Lonzo’s career, Wade was also a significantly better finisher at the rim, with Lonzo shooting 49 percent on shots at the rim last season. To compare, Wade was able to connect on 69 percent of his shots at the basket when he first joined forces with LeBron. Hopefully, these numbers go up for Lonzo as he gets more comfortable playing NBA talent night in and night out.
Where Lonzo has the edge is his passing and playmaking abilities, which can create easy opportunities for LeBron to score. With the Lakers vocal about their desire to push the pace this season, there will be ample opportunities for Lonzo to use these skills in the open court to help LeBron get easy baskets.
Even in the half-court, the Lakers can still generate easy buckets with Lonzo by using heavy motion sets, giving Lonzo opportunities to hit LeBron with his momentum heading towards the basket. LeBron wanting to play off the ball more allows Lonzo to do more creating, thus minimizing the impact his lack of three-point shooting will have playing next to King James.
It is also worth noting that this is the first time in LeBron’s career that he has played with a pass-first point guard, whose focus is to create easy shots for his teammates. For the majority of his career, LeBron has been the primary ballhandler or shared the ball with a player capable of scoring on their own ( see Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love ). So having the luxury of being created for, as opposed to doing the creating, will make his life significantly more comfortable on the offensive end.
There is also a strong chance that Lonzo will be able to, at the very least, improve his shooting to a respectable percentage. If Lonzo can consistently shoot 36 percent from downtown, just around the league average from last season, then this duo becomes a match made in heaven for both players. LeBron has proven he can turn water into wine with the talent surrounding him, this time around he might have some extra help crushing grapes.