The Lonzo Ball experiment in New Orleans looked good on paper when he first arrived, but has been an absolute disaster.
Pairing Ball with Zion Williamson made too much sense not to happen. Lonzo did, after all, make sweet music with LeBron James, with the backcourt-frontcourt duo working very well together. But he just hasn’t been the prolific leader the Pelicans had hoped he’d become.
Ball still has the same uncanny passing ability, with excellent vision, but unfortunately, he can’t shoot. He’s shown marginal improvement in that area this season, but shooting 42.6 percent from the field simply doesn’t cut it for a starting point guard.
There was some talk about the Pelicans looking to trade Ball, but given what we outlined above, it’s unlikely that any contender would give up any assets to acquire him, especially since he’ll become a free agent this summer. The Knicks, however, are already eyeing him, and could look to sign Ball, according to a report from the New York Post.
“The Post has learned the Knicks, with plenty of cap room, would be heavily on Ball’s radar as a restricted free agent,” Marc Berman wrote.
Ball would provide a spark and help sell tickets, and the way he flashes in spurts would play well under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden. We could see it happening.
