“He Was an Idol to Me”: Former Teammate Elaborates Why LeBron James is a Solid Teammate

When Los Angeles Lakers picked Lonzo Ball with the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, they might have been looking at him as a future star. The next season, they brought in LeBron James. Adding the veteran superstar, the Lakers were expecting youngsters like Brandon Ingram, Lonzo to play around James and build a strong team.

However, it did not go as they had expected. Last summer, the Lakers gave away four players to bring in Anthony Davis. And it seems to be working for now as the Lakers were on top of the Western Conference prior to the league’s suspension.

While Lonzo Ball might not have played for long with James, he said that the four-time MVP helped him grow.

“Everybody knows that I looked up to LeBron a lot. He helped me a lot when he came over to LA, obviously,” Ball said talking on JJ Reddick’s podcast with The Ringer. “That was kind of my guy, growing up.

“It was amazing. Like I said, when I first seen him, I didn’t even know what to say, I just was like: ‘What’s up, man?’ I was kind of mad, just because my season ended so early when I got hurt, two years straight. That was kind of a bummer for me. I felt like we had a pretty good team, I was close with a lot of guys on that team, especially Lance [Stephenson] as well. I think we could have did a lot more than what we did, but I got hurt, B.I. [Brandon Ingram] got hurt, Bron got hurt, the whole team pretty much got hurt. It was a tough year.”

LeBron James: An idol for Lonzo Ball

For Lonzo, like many other youngsters of the generation, James was an idol growing up.

“I always looked at LeBron growing up, he was an idol to me. Everyone compared me to HOF Jason Kidd but I always wanted to be myself, play my game” he said, later adding, “Being LeBron’s teammate is amazing.”