LOS ANGELES _ Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball essentially shrugged at the FBI investigation that alleges several current and former college basketball players received money from an agent while in college.
"Everybody knows everybody's getting paid," Ball said of college athletes. "That's just how it is. Everybody's getting paid anyway, you might as well make it legal. That's how I feel."
The documents, obtained by Yahoo Sports, show records kept by sports agency ASM that indicate payments of several thousand dollars to more than 20 players.
One player named is Kyle Kuzma, a Lakers rookie and Ball's closest friend on the team. Kuzma declined to address reporters Friday morning after the team's shootaround. His agent and his manager did not immediately respond to phone calls. A Lakers spokesperson said Kuzma would be available either before Friday night's game or after.
"He's in the NBA now," Ball said. "He really don't care. Whatever happened is in the past. Now he's just living life."
Ball said he didn't accept money from agents while in school because his father, LaVar, wasn't interested. Ball's father had already started a family business, Big Baller Brand. Part of the ethos of Big Baller Brand is to upset the status quo, and the Lakers rookie wants to see that happen on the college level.
"Basically just get the NCAA to change and pay players," Ball said. "All the money that you generate, March Madness, you can look at all the numbers. It doesn't really add up, in my opinion. Hopefully that makes little things just change."
It's an opinion his head coach shares.
"I was fortunate enough that I had my family help pay throughout college but a lot of them, they're living on those scholarship checks, check to check as far as paying rent, eating," said Luke Walton, who played college basketball at Arizona. "To me when there's that much money involved, the players should be getting a bigger piece of that as far as being able to live in a nice place, go to a nice restaurant, instead of just fast-food type of places. ...
"I haven't read the reports and all that. Generally speaking, I think athletes at some of the major universities where the money is big should be getting more than they get."
