Much has been made of Lonzo Ball's shooting. His form, his percentage (or lack thereof) and his confidence in it.
But to his credit, the Los Angeles Lakers rookie's confidence in his shot and himself has never wavered all throughout the season. It's true that he struggled mightily for much of the season with his shooting, but there are signs that things are turning around for him on that front.
Since Ball returned from a knee injury that sidelined him for several weeks, he has been shooting lights out from the 3-point line. In fact, he's shooting 58.6 percent from that distance, per Basketball-Reference.
Lonzo Ball is 17-29 (.586) from 3 since returning from injury https://t.co/SZt7SyfW8Y pic.twitter.com/l7lMO5YKCq
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) March 6, 2018
Ball has made 17 of his last 29 shots from the 3-point line over the last five games in which he played. He missed the second game of a back-to-back recently, but not because he was unavailable to play.
The sample size is small, but it's not insignificant. He's averaging just under six 3-point attempts per game during this recent stretch. That's a lot of attempts from that distance. It's not as though Ball is only shooting or two per game.
Part of the reason Ball's shooting has been such a subject of discussion is because he shot so well in college. At UCLA, Ball shot over 40 percent on 3-pointers. So when he came into the league and starting clanking those shots, many thought it was his shot mechanics that were the issue.
But it appears the only issue with Lonzo Ball was that he is a rookie and needed some time to adjust to the NBA 3-pointer and get some of his confidence going. Lately, he is taking, and making, big 3-pointers in big moments — like the one he made to tie the game at 103 on Monday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.
It seems the narrative about Ball's shooting is changing, and that only mean good things for him and the Lakers going forward.
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