Since coming into the league as the second overall pick last season, Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonzo Ball has been sort of an enigma. His play has been sporadic, to say the least, and on top of that, his injury struggles haven’t helped matters.
Of course, Lonzo also has plenty of media attention following himself, his father LaVar, and his entire family and camp which have caused quite a stir this past year. So when Ball was reported to have suffered a mysterious meniscus injury early in the summer coincidentally just as trade talks were heating up, suspicion rose surrounding the injury’s validity.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers believe that the injury was leaked by Ball’s camp itself, in order to prevent a potential trade (h/t NBC Sports):
“That knee injury, I think there was a belief around the Lakers is that it was within his world that that got leaked out there to keep him from getting traded. He doesn’t want to be traded from L.A. It wasn’t the Lakers who wanted information out on that knee injury. There were a lot of teams who were checking on possible deals with the Lakers. They wanted to know. There were a lot of questions about that knee.”
At the time news of the injury broke, the Lakers were in the midst of their perceived pursuit of Kawhi Leonard. In the process, Ball’s name had been mentioned as a potential trade chip but the Spurs were apparently uninterested in him anyways.
Never the less, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to believe someone in Ball’s camp did leak the injury in order to dampen any interest another team may have in him. Growing up in the LA-area, it’s no secret that Lonzo Ball and his father want him to be a member of the Lakers.
The plan all along has been for Lonzo to be a Lakers superstar and the ignition behind their rebuild. However, now with LeBron James in the fold and the Lakers growing more and more apprehensive towards Ball and his camp, the antics may have to be toned down a notch moving forward.
