When Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka thinks of his team’s second-overall pick, some some big names flash across mind.
Lonzo Ball — the NCAA’s best passer and conductor of UCLA’s nation-best offense — reminds Pelinka of the way that Steve Nash, Jason Kidd and even Lakers president Magic Johnson used to elevate their teammates.
And the way Ball threads passes through those tight windows takes Pelinka to the gridiron, where he likens the 19-year-old to Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.
“There’s something very, very special about his basketball abilities,” Pelinka said. “… I think the vision and abilities that Lonzo has just puts him in a class of being a transcendent talent.”
Sure, the Lakers, who ranked last in the NBA in defensive efficiency last season, debated the idea of drafting someone like Kansas’ Josh Jackson, according to head coach Luke Walton.
But the potential for Ball to become one of the game’s great playmakers was too much to balk on.
“We also want the ball moving,” Walton said. “We want to play an up-tempo game, and that’s what Ball’s a genius at.”
Indeed, Ball led the nation in assists last year with 7.6 per game. But his impact on Bruins basketball was much more than that.
In his one year at UCLA, Ball led his school from a 15-17 record the year before to a 31-5 mark this time around. The Bruins also led the country in both scoring (89.8) and field goal percentage (52.2).
“When he’s on the floor, all four guys that are out there with him become better instantly,” Walton said. “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 will get an early glimpse at how Ball looks among his teammates in two weeks at the Las Vegas Summer League.
There, he will team up with fellow No. 2 pick Brandon Ingram, whom he is anxious to run alongside.
“That was just his first year, and he did a lot,” Ball said of Ingram. “I feel like he’s going to be a superstar in this league. … Just me being a pass-first point guard; he can score pretty easily.
“He’s going to have to run the floor, (I) get the ball to him, and I’m pretty sure he can do the rest.”
At Summer League, Ball will also get to team up with the Lakers’ 27th-overall pick Kyle Kuzma, who joined Lonzo on the All-Pac-12 First Team this season.
Kuzma saw firsthand how Ball could dazzle with his own scoring, averaging 14.6 points while shooting 73.2 percent from inside the arc and 41.2 percent on triples — many of which came from beyond NBA range.
But, much like Pelinka and Walton, Ball’s foe-turned-friend was most impressed with the way Ball improved those around him.
“If I had a point guard like Lonzo, I probably would have been higher in the mock drafts,” Kuzma joked.
Though Washington’s Markelle Fultz was drafted first overall, Kuzma claimed that Ball was the top player in the Pac-12.
Pelinka is optimistic that he can become something much more in Walton’s offensive system of pushing the pace and keeping the ball constantly moving.
“I think Lonzo’s gonna be that player that can help define that for a team,” Pelinka said. “That’s the way he plays. It’s infectious. I think all of us know he has the ability to make other players around him better.”