It was an up-and-down season for Lonzo Ball in his second year with the Los Angeles Lakers. The season started low with Ball get a late start to the preseason due to injury but the season crescendoed steadily into Ball playing some of his best basketball by mid-January.
Unfortunately, Ball’s season came to an end abruptly on Jan. 19 against the Houston Rockets when he suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain. After initially optimism that he may return before season’s end, Ball was ruled out for the season after with a few weeks to go.
Looking back, though, Ball had many high moments on the season both in terms of individual plays and moments as a whole. Here’s a look at Ball’s top moments of the season.
5. “We Ain’t Going Nowhere” Instagram post
Is the first entry in this post a moment that didn’t even occur on the court? You better believe it. But Ball’s video mere minutes after the trade deadline passed was incredible.
Around the deadline, chaos ensued with the Lakers desperately attempting to trade anything that wasn’t nailed down for Anthony Davis. Ball was included in nearly all those proposals, eventually leading to his father LaVar Ball going on a media tour in an attempt to redirect Ball to Phoenix in a trade.
The result was that no one was traded and the Lakers were left with egg on their face. Ball, though, took a more light-hearted approach, posting a video of the chorus of the song “Bad Boy for Life” by P. Diddy with rather appropriate lyrics.
4. Responding to challenge vs. Mavs, Jan. 7
Known as a player-friendly coach, Luke Walton’s uncharacteristic decision to call out Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram in the midst of a poor stretch of play caught many by surprise.
The message was received loud and clear, though, and the two put forth one of their best combined performances of the season. Ball poured in 21 points, two points shy of his season-high mark, while adding seven rebounds and five assists. Ingram added 29 points and, most importantly, the two led the Lakers to an important win to snap the team out of its funk.
3. Triple-double vs. Hornets, Dec. 15
Triple-doubles are not uncommon for Ball despite being in just his second season in the league. But when he did it in mid-December, it was a feat that had not been done in over a decade.
Ball’s 16-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double stat line on Dec. 15 at Charlotte was bested only by LeBron James’ 24-point, 12-rebound, 11-assist line. The two teammates were the first since Vince Carter and Jason Kidd in 2007.
For Laker fans, it was the first sign of how dynamic Ball and James could be and a hopeful sign of what the future would hold for the two.
2. Third quarter takeover vs. Bulls, Jan. 15
Things really started to click for Ball in the final week of his regular season before his injury. Just over a week after Ball and Ingram responded to Walton’s challenge, the Lakers found themselves struggling yet again against a lowly Chicago Bulls side.
Ball, though, took over in the third quarter, scoring a string of 11-consecutive Laker points in the third quarter to push the Lakers ahead and fuel a second-half run. The Lakers would go on to win the game, albeit in unnecessarily dramatic fashion, thanks in large part to Ball’s efforts.
1. Clutch three-pointer vs. Nuggets, Oct. 25
Ball’s biggest moment of the season was actually a culmination of moments in one of the Lakers’ biggest wins of the season.
Back in late October, Ball was still struggling coming off the bench, alternating good games with poor ones. His contest against the Nuggets at home on TNT started largely the same with a disappointing first half until a steal late in the first half in the backcourt against Jamal Murray sparked something.
That spark carried over in the second half where Ball was everywhere on the court on both ends, dominating the game as the Lakers went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the Western Conference. It all culminated in a clutch step-back three-pointer over Nikola Jokic.
