Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball could be on the Los Angeles Lakers’ radar as the Feb. 6 trade deadline nears, per The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, who spoke with Jason Timpf of Hoops Tonight on the matter (24:29 mark). “I think Lonzo is someone that’s going to be on their radar, and I think depending on the price if you could get him for a second or two seconds, I think that’s an interesting swing, and also someone with that 6’6″ frame that could potentially I think be similar to Bruce Brown, check a couple boxes…he’s bulked up a little bit throughout his career, so he can guard twos and even some smaller threes and potentially be part of a one-through-three switching scheme. And then offensively I think especially coming off the bench as a secondary ball-handler, playmaker and also a spot-up shooter, I think he’s someone who’s an interesting gamble for them.”
Source: Bleacher Report
Source: Bleacher Report
What’s the buzz on Twitter?
Julia Poe @byjuliapoe
Would love to see some more Ayo-Lonzo rotations tonight with Coby out. Really like the pace that pair can create together. – 10:19 PM
Would love to see some more Ayo-Lonzo rotations tonight with Coby out. Really like the pace that pair can create together. – 10:19 PM
Allen Sliwa @AllenSliwa
Lakers Host Celtics | Are Lebron & AD Upset With Front Office? | Return Of Lonzo Ball? x.com/i/broadcasts/1… – 11:00 AM
Lakers Host Celtics | Are Lebron & AD Upset With Front Office? | Return Of Lonzo Ball? x.com/i/broadcasts/1… – 11:00 AM
KC Johnson @KCJHoop
Bulls are practicing at USC’s Galen Center, where there are posters of Nikola Vucevic and Taj Gibson and a DeMar DeRozan-funded athletic weight room.
Last season, they practiced at UCLA so Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball got their day to reminisce. – 3:20 PM
Bulls are practicing at USC’s Galen Center, where there are posters of Nikola Vucevic and Taj Gibson and a DeMar DeRozan-funded athletic weight room.
Last season, they practiced at UCLA so Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball got their day to reminisce. – 3:20 PM
Joe Cowley @JCowleyHoops
Could the Ball Brothers be reunited after this season? The rumors are heating up. What Lonzo Ball won’t do, however, is look for apologies from the critics or worry about his future beyond the next game.
Read it:
chicago.suntimes.com/bulls/2025/01/… – 3:19 PM
Could the Ball Brothers be reunited after this season? The rumors are heating up. What Lonzo Ball won’t do, however, is look for apologies from the critics or worry about his future beyond the next game.
Read it:
chicago.suntimes.com/bulls/2025/01/… – 3:19 PM
Julia Poe @byjuliapoe
Zach LaVine took over, Josh Giddey and Lonzo Ball connected, the young guys stood out in the rotation (kind of) and the Bulls snapped their losing streak.
Takeaways from Los Angeles:
chicagotribune.com/2025/01/21/chi… – 9:42 AM
Zach LaVine took over, Josh Giddey and Lonzo Ball connected, the young guys stood out in the rotation (kind of) and the Bulls snapped their losing streak.
Takeaways from Los Angeles:
chicagotribune.com/2025/01/21/chi… – 9:42 AM
More on this storyline
It had become a narrative: The Lakers would fill a roster hole, and satisfy their long-held ethos for “the story,” by selecting the hometown player. The writing on the wall was, to Wechsler, permanent. He told Pelinka he’d speak with them the following day. Wechsler wasn’t interested in appearances — or optics. “The draft is 12 days away,” he said. “Kid’s been working out since he got done after March Madness. … In L.A. all that time.” -via ESPN / January 23, 2025
The draft was June 22. Rob Pelinka — now the Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations and general manager, but then just the GM — texted Wechsler in early June to express the Lakers’ interest in Tatum. Wechsler was open to sharing medical information with the team, he said, confident that the left foot sprain that limited Tatum to start the season at Duke had healed. But he also knew the Lakers had their heart set on another freshman, Lonzo Ball out of UCLA. It was an open secret across the league. “The whole time it was just so obvious they were taking Lonzo,” a front office executive, whose team had a lottery pick that year, said. “It didn’t feel like they had a difficult time deciding that. Every indication we had from after the lottery was Lonzo was going to the Lakers. And it never changed.” -via ESPN / January 23, 2025
There were clues that supported Wechsler’s intuition. Pelinka and Johnson had taken Johnson’s private jet to scout Ball when he played against De’Aaron Fox and the University of Kentucky, sources told ESPN. The Lakers’ brass had also seen Ball for two workouts — one at the team’s facility and another in his hometown in nearby Chino Hills — which was the maximum allowed. And all of their workouts with other top prospects were with guards, not forwards, sources said. They worked out Fox, Markelle Fultz, Dennis Smith Jr. and Josh Jackson (considered a swingman who could play the 2 or the 3). They didn’t work out Lauri Markkanen or Jonathan Isaac, another Wechsler client. -via ESPN / January 23, 2025
