EL SEGUNDO – The Los Angeles Lakers continue to struggle without their veteran leaders LeBron James and Rajon Rondo on the floor on a nightly basis. The team is 3-7 since James and Rondo went down with injuries on Christmas Day, and the team's issues in the leadership department were never more evident than when they lost to the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night at the Staples Center.
Despite the team's young talent showing flashes of brilliance during this span without their veteran leaders like Kyle Kuzma scoring a career-high 41 points in three quarters or Lonzo Ball nearing triple-doubles on more than one occasion, the Lakers desperately need James and or Rondo back on the floor. The vocal leadership from these two star players has been as valuable as what they produce on the stat sheet.
After practice on Monday, Ball talked about the impact of not having James and Rondo's vocal leadership on the floor.
“It's just a big void to fill,” Lonzo said. “Rondo and LeBron are arguably two of the best leaders ever, so having both of them out that's two of our main guys that do most of the talking on the court. It's new for me. It's new for BI. Kuz probably talks the most out of all of us.”
Ball also shared his thoughts on whether a player can be a leader without being as vocal as his two veteran teams. Although Lonzo believes players can lead by example, they've got to speak up at some point.
“I think you can definitely lead by example, but there's going to be a time where you're going to have to speak up. That's just how it is when you play in the league full of grown men. You got to talk.”
Even though it was difficult to think of a player in the league off the top of his head that isn't exactly a vocal leader, but gets the job done, one superstar eventually came to mind for Ball in the form of Toronto Raptors forward, Kawhi Leonard.
“Not that I know of,” Ball said. “Every team I played on I kind of been a leader for it. Obviously, Rondo and LeBron talk all the time. I don't know how Kawhi [Leonard] is, but if I had to pick one, I'd probably say him.”
In the past, Lonzo has been looked to shoulder the load for teams he's played on from his time at Chino Hills High School to leading the way for the UCLA Bruins. However, now he's playing for an icon NBA franchise with plenty of talent, and that changes the dynamic.
“Guys looked to me to make all the plays, pretty much,” Ball said of teams he's played on in the past. “I had the ball in my hands pretty much the whole game. Now we have a lot of talent on this team. A lot of guys get the ball. We just got to learn how to click and translate that into wins.”
On Tuesday, Ball and the shorthanded Lakers will get back to work as they hope to end their two-game skid playing host to the Bulls before heading into a tough stretch in which they play three of the toughest teams in the Western Conference in consecutive games. Los Angeles will go on the road to face the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets only to come back home with the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors ready avenge their Christmas Day loss.
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