Subscribe
Follow Us
When it comes to Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, it will be extremely difficult for Los Angeles Lakers rising star point guard Lonzo Ball to avoid people bringing up the comparisons between him and Johnson. However, one of those people that do not see the resemblance is a fellow Lakers legend in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
According to Harrison Faigen of Lakers Nation, Abdul-Jabbar opened up about the Johnson/Ball comparisons on Wednesday's edition of The Herd with Colin Cowherd and wasn't buying into all the hype.
Article Continues Below“Not at all. None. Different player, different approach to the game. Some of the same talents, but different players,” Abdul-Jabbar said of Ball and Johnson. “Magic was able to rebound and once he got a rebound, that was also our point guard. So we could run. It really gave us the ability that other guards would not be able to do.”
Abdul-Jabbar's point does not seem to make much sense in reference to Ball, as the 20-year-old rookie guard is first in assists for the Lakers with 7.1 per game and second on the team in rebounds with 7.4 per game through 19 contests.
“If I got switched off onto Magic’s guy because he got away from him, Magic could go in and defend my man, box him out and make sure he didn’t get the rebound. Then I was on the wing on the fast break. And we could play like that because I had that kind of skill, I could fit in there. When you’re on one wing and James Worthy is on the other, you have a good chance of having a good fast break,” Abdul-Jabbar said.
It still seems to be far too early to compare Ball and Johnson, especially with the rookie's continued struggles shooting from the field, but the comparison is already unavoidable at this point for the 2017 NBA Draft's second overall pick.
