Magic on LaVar Ball: ‘He hasn’t been a problem’
credit goes to him, whether we talk or not. I didn’t go to the gym at 12 o’clock at night. That was him.”
Before New Year’s Day, he was shooting 29.7% from three-point range. But that percentage has nosed above 43% as Ball finally appears to have found his comfort zone.
“You see him, he’s got a different walk now because he’s hitting his shot,” Johnson said. “Before he was like, ‘Hmmm, I’m struggling from the outside with my shot,’ and he was questioning himself for a little while. But now he’s back on track.”
And Magic, the Hall of Fame point guard, said he still sees magic in Lonzo Ball.
“Look, anybody would have started off bad with that type of expectations and pressure that he had,” Johnson said. “He’s had some injuries. But he’s come through. We love him. He’s a gym rat.
“We’re different. I didn’t have the outside shot that he has, right? But I’m a better driver, I could take it to the basket, which is something he’s working on. But now our court vision is the same ” the 2019-20 season. “I’m not expecting us to be a playoff team (this year). I’m just expecting us to get better, and we have.
“Coach Walton’s got us better, players are growing, and I’ll take our four guys that we drafted (Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart and Thomas Bryant) over anybody.”
Johnson said he has no regrets for having told Ball, whom the Lakers selected with the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft, that he expected Ball’s jersey one day would be retired by the Lakers. He stands by the prediction, too — albeit it with a contingency.
“Yeah, well, it’s all about winning,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to win.”
Hard work helped turn things around for Lonzo Ball, according to Johnson, who said Ball started spending extra time at the practice facility working on his shot — apparently at the suggestion of Johnson.
“I just encourage him to get into the gym,” Johnson said. “The gym takes care of all of the noise, all of that. And he did that. He just got in the gym and started working working harder And all the Ball’s best interest to abide by the “arrangement” and broke out in laughter while making a point. “Everything LaVar wants to do depends on (Lonzo’s) success,” Johnson said. “No matter how we look at it. It all depends on his success. And we’re going to be a part of that, so that’s why I haven’t had a problem with him.
“Even if (LaVar) says something that people think I should react to, I don’t react, because I don’t have to. That’s why I didn’t react to the (criticism of Walton). I didn’t react to that. ’Til I say Coach Walton is having problems or is in trouble, he’s not having problems and he’s not in trouble . ... Until, Coach, you hear from me, you’re good.”
While LaVar Ball guaranteed his son would lead the Lakers to the playoffs for the first time since 2013, Johnson said he has different expectations while building the team.
“We weren’t looking to build a real championship team,” he said, referring to the big acquisitions he anticipates the Lakers will make after this season or after
LAS VEGAS – A year ago, Magic Johnson was in his third week as team president of the Los Angeles Lakers and starting to plot the team’s future. On Thursday, between scouting players at the Pac-12 conference basketball tournament, he was explaining what has transpired since, what might happen next and ...
LaVar Ball. Lonzo Ball. Life with the Lakers after 18 victories in the team’s past 26 games. Johnson addressed it all, and he said there was no sense of relief after a recent surge improved their record to 2935.
“We knew this was going to happen,” Johnson told USA TODAY. “We’ve got young guys, so we’re happy where we are. We’re growing and getting better and better, winning games.
“We started off slow (11-27). We knew that with the talent that we had, and most of that being under 21 years old, that we would grow and get better. So we’re happy with where we are. We’re ecstatic. The fans love our young team.”
Yet LaVar Ball, the outspoken father of Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball, has not always shared Johnson’s optimism. Without prompting, Johnson cited LaVar Ball’s assertion to ESPN in early January that Lakers coach Luke Walton “doesn’t have control of the team no more. They don’t want to play for him.”
Noting that LaVar Ball now is overseas with his his two younger sons, LiAngelo and LaMelo — both playing professional basketball for the same Lithuanian team — Johnson shrugged off what could be seen as distractions from the man in charge of Big Baller Brand.
“I don’t really worry about LaVar,” Johnson said. “He hasn’t been a problem for me. We talk, but now that he’s gone to Lithuania, it’s a different story because he’s not here as much. But before, yes. And so he was never a headache for me, right?
“What I want for him is to just continue to support his boys. Let us coach (Lonzo), let us develop (Lonzo). And I think we have our arrangement that he’s going to do his part as the dad and I’m going to do my part as the president of the Lakers.
“He’s going to be him. I’m going to do what I do. But he’s going to allow us to do what we’re supposed to do, and that’s to develop Lonzo.”
Johnson suggested