Los Angeles Lakers: 2018-19 player grades for Lonzo Ball

The second season of Lonzo Ball’s professional career was again cut short by injury and again failed to meet high expectations for the Los Angeles Lakers.

It seems like a lifetime ago that Lonzo Ball landed in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ lap being hyped as the struggling franchise’s next savior.

The No. 2 pick of the 2017 NBA Draft came out of UCLA looking like a can’t-miss superstar, with a unique blend of play-making wizardry and smooth athleticism that surely reminded the Lakers’ then-president Magic Johnson of himself just a little bit.

During Ball’s introductory press conference with the Lakers, Johnson called the 19-year-old point guard the new face of the franchise and set an extremely high bar of expectations for him.

Two years later, Ball has gone from franchise player to role player and the Lakers’ playoff drought has still not been broken. There’s a decent chance he could even be traded this summer as the Lakers attempt to make a deal for a veteran superstar like Anthony Davis.

It’s not just the arrival of LeBron James that knocked Ball down a spot or three in the Lakers’ hierarchy. The improvement of Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram, plus LeBron, plus Ball’s own injuries and struggles on the court have contributed to his new place on the team.

After shoulder and knee injuries limited Ball to 52 games as a rookie, his ankles were the culprit this season. Ball played only 47 games and his production took a dip with LeBron and Rajon Rondo taking on more ball-handling responsibilities.

Ball averaged 9.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He continued to miss the mark as a shooter, connecting on just 40.6 percent from the field, 32.9 percent from 3-point range and 41.7 percent at the free-throw line.

There were some bright spots amid the negatives, however. Here’s a look at how Ball graded out this season.