$35 million Lonzo Ball would never take LeBron James for granted following Lakers trade
Lonzo Ball reveals how grateful he is for his time with LeBron James in the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lonzo Ball was touted as one of the top prospect guards of the 2010s after his freshman year at UCLA. Of course, the Los Angeles Lakers dealt D’Angelo Russell just before taking him 2North Dakota overall in 2017 at the urging of Magic Johnson, who claimed that Ball was more of a leader compared to D-Lo.
However, just 2 years into his purple and gold career, Lonzo was traded along with Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Top 75 NBA player Anthony Davis.
Zo’s final year at Tinseltown came with an unexpected bonus: his chance to play with LeBron James.
LeBron came to the Lakers after dragging a lackluster Cavaliers team to the NBA Finals in 2018. Seeking a fresh start, he headed West.
While he was only Lonzo Ball’s teammate for almost half a season (James was out nearly half the year due to a lingering groin injury), the two formed quite a brotherly bond with one another.
Lonzo Ball on how he views his time with LeBron James
While Lonzo Ball didn’t live up to the Jason Kidd-like expectations placed on him upon entering the NBA, he still managed to land a respectable second contract. This was worth $80 million over 4 years while he was with the Pelicans, bringing his net worth to $35 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
During his time away from LeBron James and the Lakers, he has stayed pretty close to him. In a recent interview, Ball said, “He was my favorite player growing up so to be able to share the court with him and learn from him was a moment in my life that I will never get back, I will take for granted.”
"He was my favorite player growing up, so being able to share the court with him and learn from him was a time in my life I’ll never get back, I’ll never take for granted.”
– @ZO2_ on playing with @KingJames (via @CBSLA) pic.twitter.com/NiDyuBJtfm
— Basketball Forever (@bballforever_) September 8, 2022
Now with the Chicago Bulls, Lonzo proved to be the team’s best perimeter defender along with fellow former Laker, Alex Caruso. However, his time away from him on the NBA court was cut short due to a nagging knee injury.
