When the Spurs season ended last month at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, fans of the silver and black turned their attention to the biggest storyline of the offseason: what’s going to happen with Kawhi Leonard?
One of the dominant lines of thinking has been that if the Spurs and Leonard can’t agree on a contract extension before the forward becomes a free agent next summer, the team will look to trade him.
A potential landing spot in a trade for Leonard is the Los Angeles Lakers, a move that makes some sense, since the Lakers have cap space and Leonard is from southern California.
But with any discussion about the future of the Lakers, LaVar Ball will likely weigh in. The outspoken Big Baller Brand founder and father of rookie point guard Lonzo Ball appeared on an ESPN LA radio show Monday and brought his hot takes with him.
First of all, he doesn’t believe the Lakers would trade his son, who was taken with the #2 pick in last year’s NBA Draft. “You can’t get rid of Zo! He’s the people’s choice,” Ball told Marcellus Wiley.
Wiley then asked LaVar if he thinks Kawhi Leonard is a better player than his 20-year-old son. “Stop it! … Hell no. Lonzo, I’m gonna tell you what he does, makes everyone on the team better,” LaVar said. “Who don’t want to start a team with that? You put Kawhi on there, he won’t make everyone better. He’s gonna do his thing. He’s a specialty guy.”
You might think it’s ridiculous to dismiss a two-time all-NBA forward and Finals MVP as a “specialty guy,” and you’d be right, but the numbers also fail to back up LaVar Ball’s outrageous take.
Using Basketball-Reference, let’s start with the stats from this season, focusing on PER (Player Efficiency Rating) and WS/48 (Win Shares per 48 minutes, which estimates a player’s contribution and adjusts it for a per-game basis). The league average in the WS/48 stat is about .100.
Lonzo Ball: 10.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 7.2 assists per game, 36% FG shooting, 12.5 PER, .053 WS/48
Kawhi: 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists per game, 47% FG shooting, 26.0 PER, .196 WS/48
So Ball is a weaker and less efficient shooter and is way less valuable when it comes to adding wins. But these are Kawhi’s stats in his seventh NBA season, and even if he was injured, he’s a more developed player than Lonzo. What if we compared Lonzo’s rookie season (2017-18) to Kawhi’s (2011-12)?
Lonzo Ball: 10.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 7.2 assists per game, 36% FG shooting, 12.5 PER, .053 WS/48
Kawhi: 7.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists per game, 49% FG shooting, 16.6 PER, .171 WS/48
In other words, unless Lonzo Ball improves a ton from his performance in his first season in the NBA, he’s not only not better than Kawhi Leonard… he’s not better than Kawhi was at any point in his career.
Sorry, LaVar.