Ball lands in Lakers court - along with his dad

EL SEGUNDO, California - Lonzo Ball and his dad are staying home with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers selected Ball with the second overall pick in the NBA draft on Thursday night, staking a big portion of their future on the UCLA playmaker with an attention-grabbing father.

After the worst four-year stretch in franchise history, the 16-time NBA champion Lakers are rebuilding with the point guard who led the nation with 7.7 assists per game last season for the Bruins.

With extraordinary court vision, a solid scoring touch and a desire to become a leader, the LA native had everything that his hometown team wanted.

"Guys are going to naturally gravitate towards someone who wants to make them better," Lakers coach Luke Walton said.

"To me, he's the type of player that, when he's on the floor, all four guys that are out there with him instantly become better. That's a quality and a trait that not many people have. The great ones all have it, and we hope that by the way he plays, everyone else on our team becomes better."

The Lakers don't appear worried about attaching themselves to LaVar Ball, the voluble family patriarch with aspirations of building a global sports empire around his three talented sons.

For two years, the senior Ball had vowed that eldest son Lonzo would end up with the Lakers, believing he could speak his dream into existence.

Moments after it became a reality, LaVar pulled on a purple-and-gold hat featuring the logo of his Big Baller Brand company - and then declared Lonzo will lead the Lakers back to the playoffs next season as a rookie.

"I'm a very optimistic person, but I don't look that far into the future," Walton said. "Right now, I'm hoping (Lonzo) leads us to a couple of summer league victories, and we'll take it from there."

Lonzo Ball usually grins or sighs when his father gets on the microphone, but he openly acknowledged he also wanted to land with the Lakers, who needed a fortunate showing in the draft lottery just to end up with the second pick.

After that bit of serendipity, the Lakers made their plans for Ball well-known earlier this week when they agreed to trade point guard D'Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets.

Lonzo has acknowledged the extra degree of difficulty created in his career by his father's public presence, saying it makes him an easy target for abuse from fans and attention from opponents.

Walton gets it: After all, he is the son of Hall of Famer Bill Walton, the genial basketball blowhard.

"That will make it more challenging a little bit, but I think that every top draft pick that comes in has a target on their back," Walton said. "The best players in this league want to set the tone with these young players early, to let them know what it's like here."

Associated Press