On June, 22, 2017, Lonzo Ball fulfilled his father LaVar Ball’s prophecy and was drafted No. 2 overall by the Los Angeles Lakers. However, Lonzo nearly blew his opportunity with LA in his first pre-draft workout with the team.
In a recent appearance on the Lightharted Podcast with Josh Hart, Lonzo said that his workout with the Lakers was undoubtedly the worst workout he’s ever had:
“The workout with the Lakers was the worst workout I’ve ever had — like, ever. It has to be the worst workout for a No. 2 pick. It has to. That’s how bad it was. Like, they had to come to Chino to watch me workout again. I had to have a second workout.”
According to Lonzo, the reason he looked so bad in his workout was because he was sick and tried to self-medicate, to no avail:
“I got sick and I didn’t tell nobody, so I had to drink a whole bottle of codeine — I mean not codeine, but cough syrup — so I was just like … I couldn’t move. Like, ask B. Shaw; B. Shaw will tell you. B was like, ‘Yo, what the hell?’ That’s the first time I met B. Shaw and he was like, ‘Yo, I don’t think he it.’ I could see it on his face. I would just take two steps, I couldn’t dunk. They were let, ‘Get up,’ and I was like, ‘I can’t. I can’t dunk.’”
This backs up what was leaked during Lonzo’s pre-draft process, except Lonzo’s thorough account of the workout might actually be worse. Luckily for him, he got a second workout with the Lakers on his home turf and was able to convince them he was worthy of the No. 2 overall pick.
Even if he’s not with the Lakers anymore, it’s a nice story to tell and a cautionary tale for future NBA Draft hopefuls.
