When the Los Angeles Lakers selected Lonzo Ball with the No. 2 overall pick, there was little hesitation by president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka in placing high expectations and a tremendous amount of responsibility on his shoulders.
Ball’s pass-first mentality drew comparisons to Johnson and evoked memories of his orchestrating the ‘Showtime Era’ Lakers. But concerns over Ball’s shooting struggles, which were historically poor to start a career, mitigated much of the enthusiasm that had built up.
Not within the organization, however, as Lakers head coach Luke Walton, Johnson and Pelinka maintained their confidence in the rookie point guard.