Kobe Bryant shrugs at idea of Lakers drafting LiAngelo Ball: 'If it'll help win'
Like it or not, the Ball family of Lavar and his sons has become an unavoidable pillar of Los Angeles basketball. An even bigger pillar in Los Angeles doesn’t seem to care if they increase their foothold in the city.
Kobe Bryant’s reaction to possibility of drafting LiAngelo Ball
TMZ Sports got ahold of Bryant outside ABC Studios in New York and threw some questions at him, including the possibility of the Los Angeles Lakers drafting another member of the Ball family. That someone would be the middle child LiAngelo, who is draft-eligible after a season that started at UCLA and ended in Lithuania.
Bryant did what many wish they could do when the subject of the Ball family comes up: he shrugged, threw out a generic answer (“If it’ll help win”) and immediately got into the car to leave.
Could the Lakers draft LiAngelo Ball?
If helping the Lakers win is the sole criteria for whether or not to draft LiAngelo Ball, that might not be good news for the player or his father. Even setting aside the off-court issues that popped up in China while LiAngelo was still with UCLA, he’s not seen as a draft-worthy product by most of the league. LaVar seems to think he can use the leverage of Lonzo’s eventual free agency to steer the draft status of the younger brothers, but that’s not exactly seen as a practical plan.
LiAngelo averaged 12.9 points per game on 42.5 percent shooting with Lithuanian team Prienu Vytautas, playing 22 minutes per game. He did not play in a game for UCLA.
Does Kobe Bryant have any history with the Ball family?
This isn’t the first time Bryant and the Ball family have appeared in the same headline, as Bryant was among the many saying, from a place of support, Lonzo needed to improve his play this season. LaVar reacted predictably.
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