The 2017 NBA season marked the arrival of promising talent in the form of LaVar Ball’s eldest son. But six seasons in, the lifespan of the young pro’s career is getting worryingly shorter. While the Chicago Bulls player was recovering from a serious injury, experts analyzed the cause of his troubles. The reasons were shocking for most fans as it may have to do with LaVar himself. But one NBA veteran disagrees.

You don’t win seven NBA championships like Robert Horry without amassing a lifetime of experience. He’s bounced back from injuries, played through them, and seen other players go through them. And he has a different take on Lonzo Ball’s status.

Robert Horry dismisses the alleged cause of Lonzo Ball’s decline

This week on Big Shot Bob, Robert Horry reminisced about his time with the San Antonio Spurs. Even leading up to his retirement, Horry played like he was in his prime. So his co-host had to bring up another athlete who is struggling in his early career already.

Lonzo Ball’s future in the NBA is looking iffy due to a series of lower-body injuries. The Los Angeles Lakers, where the eldest of the Ball siblings began his career, have analyzed that the problem is in Lonzo’s shoes. They’re manufactured and sold by the Big Baller Brand, the company founded by his father.

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Apparently, Lonzo also noticed that problem. In the 2019 season, he settled on wearing Nike sneakers from the Lakers legend Kobe Bryant’s signature collection.

Unfortunately, that has done little to solve his injury streak. Bryant’s former teammate, Horry though, doesn’t think appropriate footwear has to do with it.

“I don’t believe that,” Big Shot Bob said about Lonzo’s shoes. “Because we used to play in our socks!” 

He’d list other non-standard athletic footwear they’d play basketball in. “We played everything when we were growing up,” explained the 7-time champion.

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According to Horry, their bodies could adapt better when they were younger. Since that clearly isn’t happening for Zo, the retired pro blames something else for Ball’s problems.

Horry mourns Lonzo Ball’s misfortunes

Lonzo Ball needed a third knee surgery earlier this year costing him the 2023-24 season. This is unexpected when you’re a top prospect like Lonzo Ball and fans are blaming his father for it.

Lonzo sported the ZO2 from the Big Baller Brand when he entered the NBA. However, the shoes didn’t live up to the hype and fell apart repeatedly.

That’s just the band-aid solution in Horry’s opinion. As he said, “Some people are just ‘Bad Luck Guys.'” He’d also reference Brandon Roy whose promising career was also cut short by knee injuries. “You get injuries and they just happen to you. But I don’t think it’s the shoes.”

Horry does have a point. Shoes don’t maketh the NBA star. Do you also agree with him?

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