Lonzo Ball

 ( 1997 Births ) 

By the end of his senior year, Ball was rated as a consensus five-star recruit in the 2016 high school class. He was ranked No. 4 overall recruit in the 2016 class behind Harry Giles, Josh Jackson and Jayson Tatum by both Rivals.com and ESPN, while Scout.com ranked him at No. 7 despite his previous ranking of several months as the No. 1 player in the country. In November 2015, he signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and play for the Bruins.

Later in the year, Ball was named the most valuable player (MVP) of the Wooden Legacy tournament, after he led UCLA to a win over Texas A&M in the championship game. He remained on the Wooden Award list in midseason, when he was also joined by Leaf, as UCLA was one of just five schools with two candidates on the list.

On February 4, 2017, in a 107–66 blowout win against the Washington Huskies, Ball had 22 points, six rebounds, and five assists. With close to two dozen NBA executives in attendance, the game matched Ball against the Huskies' Markelle Fultz, who were among the nation's top point guards and projected to be among the top picks in the 2017 NBA draft. Fultz scored 25 points in an even matchup between the two freshmen. In the Bruins' regular season finale, Ball had a career-high 14 assists in a 77–68 win over Washington State, when he also broke Gary Payton's 30-year-old Pac-12 season record for assists by a freshman. UCLA was seeded No. 3 in the NCAA tournament, and won their opening game 97–80 over Kent State. Ball had 15 points and three assists to surpass Larry Drew II's school record for most assists in a season. In the second round, he came close to a triple-double with 18 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists in a 79–67 win over Cincinnati. All of his assists came in the second half, when UCLA overcame a three-point halftime deficit after scoring a season-low 30 points in the first half. The Bruins were eliminated in the Sweet 16, losing 86–75 to Kentucky. Ball had 10 points, eight assists, and four turnovers in the loss, while Wildcats point guard De'Aaron Fox scored 39 points for an NCAA tournament freshman record. Ball strained his hamstring in the game but played through it and was limping in the second half. Ball did not offer it as an excuse for being outplayed. After the game, he announced that he would declare for the 2017 NBA draft, where he was generally projected to be a top-3 pick.

For the season, Ball averaged 14.6 points, 7.6 assists, and 6.0 rebounds. He was the only player in the nation to average at least 14 points, six assists, and six rebounds, and was the first player in the conference since California's Jason Kidd in 1993–94 to average at least 14 points, seven assists, and six rebounds. His 274 assists also passed Kidd (272) for the second-most in a season by a Pac-12 player, behind only Ahlon Lewis (294) of Arizona State in 1997–98. Ball made 55.1 percent of his field goal attempts and 41.2 of his three-point attempts to become the first NCAA Division I player since 1992–93 to make at least 70 percent from the 2-point range and 40 percent from the 3-point range. He was a unanimous first-team All-American, earning honors from the Associated Press, United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), and Sporting News. Additionally, he was awarded the Wayman Tisdale Award by the USBWA as the top freshman in the nation. Ball was the only freshman that year to be a finalist for the Wooden Award, Naismith College Player of the Year, and Oscar Robertson Trophy. He was also voted Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, named first-team All-Pac-12 along with teammates Leaf and Bryce Alford, and received honorable mention for the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.

As a rookie in 2017–18, Ball played in 52 games, missing 30 games due to shoulder and knee injuries. In the second game of the season on October 20, 2017, he scored a then career-high 29 points, to go along with 11 rebounds and nine assists in a 132–130 win against the Phoenix Suns, falling one assist shy of becoming the youngest player to notch a triple-double in NBA history. In the following game, he had eight points, eight rebounds, and 13 assists in a 119–112 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, becoming the youngest player in franchise history to get at least 10 assists in a game. On November 11, he recorded 19 points, 13 assists, and 12 rebounds in a 98–90 loss against the Milwaukee Bucks, becoming the youngest player at the time to achieve a triple-double at the age of 20 years and 15 days old, breaking James' record by five days. Leading up to the game, Bucks' coach Jason Kidd, who Ball is often compared to, had called it "a stretch" to compare the two since it was too early in Ball's career. Ball, who had been struggling with his shooting, made over 50% of his field goals in a game for the first time in his career. On November 19, he recorded his second triple-double with 11 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists in a 127–109 win over the Denver Nuggets. It was the most rebounds by an NBA rookie guard since Steve Francis had 17 in 1999–2000. He also joined fellow NBA rookie Ben Simmons, as well as Magic Johnson, Connie Hawkins, Art Williams, and Oscar Robertson as the only players to record multiple triple-doubles within the first 20 games of their NBA careers.

Ball missed the team's Christmas game after spraining his left shoulder in the previous game against the Portland Trail Blazers. He returned after missing six games, playing in five games before spraining the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his left knee against the Dallas Mavericks on January 13, 2018. Originally, he was expected to be sidelined for one to three weeks. Ball was selected to play in the Rising Stars Challenge during NBA All-Star Weekend, but withdrew because of the injury. He returned after the All-Star break after missing 15 games. On February 23, he played 17 minutes and had nine points, seven rebounds and six assists in a 124–102 victory against the Mavericks. It was the first game he played all season that he did not start. He was also on a minutes restriction, and the Lakers held him out of their following game to limit his back-to-back games during his return. Ball missed the final eight games of the season due to a knee contusion. He ended the season with averages of 10.2 points, 7.2 assists and 6.9 rebounds, but made only 36 percent of his field goals. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, while fellow rookie teammate Kyle Kuzma exceeded expectations and earned First Team honors.

Ball's added bulk made him better on defense, and he became one of the Lakers' most dynamic defenders during the season as he picked up point guards full-court to create turnovers in the backcourt. On offense, he had to adjust to playing off the ball more with James often handling the ball. On December 15, in a 128–100 win against the Charlotte Hornets, the duo became the first teammates to achieve a triple-double in the same game since Jason Kidd and Vince Carter did it in 2007, with Ball posting 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, while James had 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists. The last Lakers teammates to accomplish the feat were Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1982. It was Ball's third triple-double of his career and his first in over a year. On January 19, 2019, he had a career-high seven assists in a quarter to help the Lakers build a 13-point lead over the Houston Rockets after the first period. In the third quarter, he collided with the Rockets' James Ennis III and suffered a Grade 3 left ankle sprain, which included a torn ligament. Ball left the game with 11 assists in 22 minutes and the team up by 18 points, but the Lakers lost the game in overtime 138–134. He had suffered two other ankle injuries earlier in the season, but had been able to play in all of the team's first 47 games. Since Walton called him out for being passive after a 108–86 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves, he had been averaging 13 points, 6.4 rebounds and 8.4 assists with nearly two steals over seven games before the injury. Ball was selected again for the Rising Stars game, but he was ruled out again because of his ankle injury. In late February, he traveled to Ohio to potentially undergo surgery. However, this surgery was not authorized by the Lakers, so the team informed him that his contract could be voided if he proceeded, and successfully talked him out of it. Originally expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks, he was shut down for the rest of the season in March.

Heading into the 2020–21 season, Ball was at his healthiest. New Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy placed him in a 3-and-D role, which he had never played before. On January 29, 2021, Ball matched his then career-high seven three-pointers, and scored a season-high 27 points, in a 131–126 win over the Bucks. On April 5, Ball set a new career-high eight three-pointers, while matching his season-high 27 points and registering nine assists in a 122–115 win over the Rockets. On May 1, Ball matched his career-high eight three-pointers while recording a career-high 33 points, alongside 11 rebounds and eight assists in a 140–136 OT win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On May 4, Ball matched his career-high 33 points in a 108–103 win against the Golden State Warriors. He ended the season with career highs in scoring (14.6), 3-point percentage (37.8%), field goal percentage (41.4) and free throw percentage (78.1). In his new role, his assist average dropped to 5.7 per game, near the level he posted while playing alongside LeBron James with the Lakers. New Orleans had power forward Zion Williamson initiate plays off the dribble and handle the ball in transition. Ball became a restricted free agent during the offseason.