David Griffin says Lonzo Ball has made it ‘very clear’ he wants to remain in New Orleans
Lonzo Ball will remain in New Orleans for the remainder of the 2020-21 season.
Barely.
Ball was one of the names most discussed leading up to Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. The likes of the Sixers, Clippers, Nuggets, Hawks and Bulls all were rumored to be interested in Ball. Chicago emerged as the most serious suitor for Ball in the final 24 hours but no deal came to fruition as Ball will remain in New Orleans for the final two months of the season.
On Friday, Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin addressed the team’s decision to retain Ball.
“He’s a guy that can do some spectacular things,” he said. “What we’ve seen him do is be as hard a worker as we have, improve his shooting as much as you possibly can, be diligent in the weight room. He loves his teammates. He’s made it very clear personally, 1-to-1, that he wants to be here. And yet, what you will read ‘This is a player who doesn’t want to be here. He’s clearly not in our plans so you should trade him for a ham sandwich.’ Well, that doesn’t make any sense when we know the actual real story behind Lonzo Ball.”
That Ball wants to remain in New Orleans is not new, though is still noteworthy. Earlier in March, Ball stated he wanted to be a piece of the Pelicans young core and future alongside Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson by remaining in New Orleans long-term. Last year, Griffin himself said that Ball and Ingram both expressed to him that they wanted to be in New Orleans long-term.
However, Griffin also seemed to indicate on Friday that the team hadn’t spent much of the last two weeks openly shopping Ball on the market with every intention of trading him if their price was met. Griffin oddly pointed out how polarizing Ball is as a player and discussed leaks to the media when discussing the team shopping Ball.
“Lonzo is one of the most highly-scrutinized players I’ve ever seen,” Griffin said. “He has the most polarizing narrative around him that I’ve ever dealt with before. He’s either the greatest player in the NBA or the worst player that’s ever played and apparently there’s no in-between. It’s been unfair to Lonzo the whole time. What’s also been unfair to Lonzo, and frankly I think everybody needs to think about this big picture-wise, the noise around the game is so much more significant now than it’s ever been. The lack of truth in what you can read and what is said is overwhelming.
“So, a lot of the things that’s happened with Lonzo have happened because Lonzo’s not a vocal guy that’s going to read something online and immediately have to correct that,” he continued. “He’s not somebody that’s going to walk in front of you and go ‘That’s absolute [expletive]. I don’t believe x, y, z.’ Because that’s not who he is. But, quite often, that’s what happens and I think you can hear a lot of that out there, too, anecdotally around Lonzo because he’s a fascinating player.
“I would just tell you,” Griffin added, “be really, really careful of the things you read and most things that are in print are in print because somebody stands to gain by putting them that way and by leaking those stories. For whatever reason, Lonzo ends up the whirlwind of more of that than most.”
In this case, the “for whatever reason” is because the Pelicans spent weeks shopping Ball despite him flourishing this season with the two pieces of the Pelicans future in Ingram and Williamson. When those three share the court this season, the Pelicans have a net rating of plus-1.6, an improvement of their overall net rating of just plus-0.2 on the year.
In fact, based on advanced numbers, Ball has been the most valuable Pelican this season. When he’s on the court, the Pelicans have a net rating of plus-2.0. When he’s off the court, that rating plummets to minus-3.9. No player has a better net rating on the court and no player has a worse net rating off the court. The Pelicans have largely gone as Ball has gone this season.
Ball has found a franchise and a role where he is flourishing. He wants to remain in New Orleans long-term despite the team openly shopping him. He’ll get his wish at least for the next two-plus months before heading into restricted free agency when it all starts again.
