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LeBron James is taking on a mentorship role with many of his new Los Angeles Lakers teammates and that includes Lonzo Ball. James is already impressed with Ball despite the fact that Ball is still working his way back from offseason surgery.
LeBron said he’s impressed with how far along Lonzo is despite not playing basketball for five months. “His speed is there, his bounce is there,” James said. He then joked: “I don’t even know if he had surgery.”
— Bill Oram (@billoram) September 29, 2018
The Lakers are sure to be careful with the second overall pick from the 2017 draft, but it's clear that Ball is making significant progress. There's no reason to rush him back too quickly, but the signs have been encouraging thus far.
LeBron will be one of the guiding influences for Ball and his young teammates like Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and Josh Hart. He can help them in little ways on and off the court.
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But perhaps the biggest way LeBron can help Lonzo is Ball already happening. James is the face of the Lakers and he's the guy that reporters flock to. To a certain extent, the spotlight was taken off Lonzo and that's a good thing for the young Laker. He won't have to deal with the media frenzy that he experienced his rookie season.
Of course, he's a Ball so there will always be eyes on him, but now he can take more of a backseat role with LeBron James in town. That's not a bad thing for Lonzo at all.
It will be interesting to see how James and Ball coexist on the court, but Lonzo is already experiencing the effect of LeBron off the court.
