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Lonzo Ball has not shot well in the early part of his first NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers, and those struggles aren't only limited to jump shots.
Ball, the No. 2 pick in this summer's NBA draft, has struggled from the free throw line as well. He's shooting a dismal 42.9 percent from the free throw line, according to Basketball Reference. Those are Shaq-like numbers, and he is the worst free throw shooter in the NBA for players who have attempted at least 1.5 per game.
But Lakers head coach Luke Walton isn't too worried about Ball's shooting numbers from the charity stripe, according to Josh Martin of LonzoWire.
Article Continues Below“He hits them in practice,” Walton said. “Now it’s about mentally being able to take on that challenge of hitting them in the games, when they mean more and there’s 20,000 people watching and whatnot. He’ll start hitting them. He’s been putting the work in.”
Ball's routine at the line looks a tad rushed as he only takes one dribble before launching the shot and at times he does not hold his follow-through. Walton mentioned two free throws by Ball during a recent game against the Sacramento Kings as examples of him possibly hurrying through this time at the free-throw line, per Martin.
“He seemed like he wasn’t taking his time up at the line,” Walton said. “Those are all things that he’s working on to get better at.”
At this point of the season, the Lakers are last in free throw percentage, shooting only 70.5 percent from that distance, according to NBA.com. While Ball's percentage certainly contributes to that, the issue seems like a team-wide problem that will only be fixed with continued practice.
