Detailing the Los Angeles Lakers’ poor decision to take Lonzo Ball over De’Aaron Fox in the 2017 NBA Draft, and how it has affected them
March Madness is one of the biggest sporting events each year that brings in millions of viewers. Flash back to 2017, it is the Sweet 16 and De’Aaron Fox would matchup against Lonzo Ball for the second time that season.
The first time, Ball’s UCLA Bruins beat Fox’s Kentucky Wildcats 97-92 while Ball had 14 points and seven assists and Fox had 20 points and nine assists back on December 3rd, 2016. Now the stage is bigger and a trip to the Elite 8 is on the line.
UCLA came out the gate hot taking a five point lead, but over time Kentucky would get going and the charge was led by Fox. Fox finished the first half with 15 points and took a three-point lead into half time while Ball finished the first half with six points.
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Kentucky would pull away in the second half taking a double-digit lead and Fox would go off for 24 second-half points getting bucket after bucket and getting to the line. Ball would disappear with only four second-half points.
UCLA would fall to Kentucky, this time 86-75, while De’Aaron Fox would finish with 39 points in 36 minutes while Lonzo Ball would finish with 10 points in 38 minutes. March Madness would greatly boost Fox opportunity as a high draft pick.
LaVar Ball was angling for the Lakers to draft Lonzo Ball for quite some time but Fox’s March Madness run put some thought into the Lakers brass into drafting him. Ultimately, LaVar would get his wish and Lonzo would be a Laker while Fox dropped to the Sacramento Kings at pick No. 5.
The first pro action for both players would come July 10, 2017, in Summer League when the Lakers and Kings would play each other, Fox played, Ball did not. This led to speculation that Ball might be ducking Fox after getting 39 poured on him on the biggest stage in college basketball.
LaVar and Lonzo denied the claim, obviously, citing Lonzo sat out with a groin injury and Lavar downplaying Fox as an up and coming star. Fox played the whole situation off making jokes about it on Twitter.
We now head to the regular season where Fox and Ball would play two games against each other their rookie year each winning a game. Fox averaged 14 points, three assists, and 2.5 rebounds a game while Ball averaged nine points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds.
When overall breaking down their rookie seasons, each player has an edge in different stat categories, Fox shooting splits were 41/30/72 with a 44.1% eFG and 47% true shooting compared to Ball at an abysmal 36/30/45 with a 44% eFG and a 44.4% true shooting. But Ball finished with a better offensive and defensive rating, as well as a -0.7 net rating, compared to Fox at -10.1.
Net rating stats can be deceiving based on a teams play, tanking in basketball is common yet no one will ever openly admit it to media. So that’s why we move on to season two to get a better reading of what each player will be for the future.
De’Aaron Fox would put in a numerous amount of work after his rookie season in the offseason and it would greatly show in his second season in the league. Fox and Ball would each take different trajectories in their second season in the league.
Fox and Ball would square off three times in the regular season with Ball winning two of those matchups. The head to head averages would favor Fox with 20.7 points, seven assists, and 6.7 rebounds while shooting 46 percent compared to Ball at 12.3 points, 6.7 assists, and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 43 percent.
Diving deeper into both players beyond head to head would show how much Fox’s game would grow and Ball staying around the same as he did his rookie year. Fox improved his shooting across the board from a 41/30/72 clip to a now 46/37/73 clip, leading the Kings from a 25-57 record his rookie year to a now 39-43 record.
Ball would go from a 36/30/45 clip to a 40/33/42 clip, his numbers did not get much better and he is by far one of the worst free throw shooting guards in the league. His 3-point shot, which was known to be good in his high school and college days, has not translated to the NBA.
Ball received great remarks regarding his defense, which gives him an edge on that end compared to Fox. But when looking at both players you can’t trust Ball to actually stay on the court health wise.
Fox has played in 154 of 162 possible games and Ball has played in 99 of a possible 162 games, staying on the court healthy is half the battle. The other half is producing when you’re on the court and Fox leads in both categories.
Head-to-head, Ball leads 3-2 but his averages of 10.6 points, 8.8 assists, and 6.4 rebounds aren’t as big of an impact as Fox who is averaging 18 points, 5.4 assists, and five rebounds. Fox has also been more active on the defensive end with 0.6 more steals and 0.2 more blocks per game.
Now breaking down the bigger picture, Fox took a massive leap his sophomore season while Ball improved in some areas and got worse in others. Ball finished the season with 9.9 points, 5.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds with a 25-22 record in the 47 games he played, Fox on the other hand averaged 17.3 points, 7.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game while the Kings finished 39-42 with him in the lineup.
The Kings would finish at 39-43 while the Lakers would finish at 37-45, the Kings also don’t have LeBron James on their roster, albeit playing in only 55 games. The Kings made a big leap, the Lakers made a downfall when compared to their recent season beforehand.
So it begs the question, how long will the Lakers regret taking Ball over Fox? How much better would the Lakers be with a guy who has proven he can be a No. 1 option on a team? I believe Fox would’ve played great next to LeBron.
Take into account the amount of spacing Fox would have next to LeBron and his shooting stats would only go up, as well as his efficiency numbers as well. Ball on the other hand, did not show that promise people thought he would next to LeBron.
Fox also has all the physical tools to be a great defender, he showed it in college and his lightning quick speed led him to the nickname Swipa da Fox. So Ball having a slight edge on defense doesn’t warrant much at this point.
Picture this, Fox and LeBron vs. Ball and LeBron, who are you taking in that 2-on=2 matchup? Can you trust Ball to make a shot? Fox showed his second season he can hit from anywhere and his end to end speed is glimpses of young Russell Westbrook and young John Wall.
The Lakers had the No. 2 pick in their hands in the 2017 NBA Draft, they needed a point guard, they caved to LaVar Ball and took Lonzo, letting Fox slip to 5 to the Kings. It hasn’t paid off for them and the trends seem to be going in different directions.
The Lakers made a poor choice in trading D’Angelo Russell, now he is an all-star thriving in Brooklyn. The Magic Johnson era is not one that Lakers fans will enjoy talking about in the future, because unfortunately, it will include regretting taking Ball over Fox for a long time as well.