New Orleans Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball is acutely aware that his time in The City of Angels was coming to a close. The former No. 2 overall pick knew the Los Angeles Lakers would part ways with him at some point, never double-guessing if he would be traded, but rather when he would be.

“It was only a matter of time before a trade happened,” Ball told Shams Charania of The Athletic. “I pretty much knew a trade would happen. Any time you have a player like Anthony Davis available, I knew it was going to be my time. I was looking forward to it and I was excited for a new start. Getting out of L.A. for the first time in my life. I’m happy about it.”

Yet the Chino Hills native, who grew up a Lakers fan and was predestined by his own father to don the purple and gold, is not looking back to his two seasons in L.A.

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“It was just time for a change. I got hurt both years and didn’t do what I wanted to do,” said Lonzo Ball. “I was blessed to stay home and play in front of everybody, but it wasn’t working over there.”

Ball now has a new opportunity to resurrect his career in front of a young Pelicans core and veteran players to help him get there. The third-year point man has already shown flashes of brilliance in the preseason, including the re-construction of his jump shot — now elevating his release point above his head and fixing a lot of the mechanical issues that had rendered him as an inefficient shooter during his first two seasons.