"He's going to get a lot of people coming at him" - When Pat Bev admitted he targeted Lonzo because of LaVar's exaggerated comments originally appeared on Basketball Network .
Lonzo Ball had quite the introduction into the NBA. Selected with the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by his hometown Los Angeles Lakers , his arrival came with more noise than most rookies ever have to endure.
The noise wasn't entirely of his own making either; it was manufactured, magnified and multiplied by the presence of his outspoken father, LaVar Ball.
In the months leading up to the draft, LaVar had done just about everything to place a spotlight on his son, boldly predicting that Lonzo would not only be the best player in the draft but also a better player than Stephen Curry .
Lonzo's first official taste of the NBA came against Patrick Beverley , who was fresh off a season in which he'd been named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team and had just picked up the league's Hustle Award.
In short, Beverley was not the type of opponent one would want to ease into the league against. There would be no easing in — Pat came into that game with a purpose.
"I told him, due to all the riff-raff his dad brings, he's going to get a lot of people coming at him and he has to be ready for that," Beverley said later. "He has to perform on a stage like this every night. It's not only going to be me. It's going to be a lot of people trying to go at his head."
True to his word, Beverley made it a point to hound the rookie across the floor, pressuring him full court, stripping the ball from him, barking in his ear and holding him to just three points on 1-for-6 shooting.
Ball managed only four assists and nine rebounds in 29 minutes. For someone touted as a generational playmaker, it was an underwhelming debut, and Beverley knew it.
It wasn't enough that Patrick had dominated him on the floor. As the final buzzer sounded, he chased one tunnel while Lonzo headed down another, shaken and speechless.
He screamed about "weak a— motherf—r," making sure Zo left the court with more than just a bruised stat sheet. This was a message that the NBA wasn't going to be easy, and if his father was going to talk, Lonzo was going to have to pay the price.
The hype surrounding Zo had been building for years.
From his standout high school days at Chino Hills to his electric freshman season at UCLA, where he averaged 14.6 points and 7.6 assists per game, Ball was billed as the next great floor general.
However, much of that excitement was stirred into frenzy by LaVar, who had turned the Ball family into a brand, launched Big Baller Brand and regularly drew media attention with his wild takes and staged theatrics.
That pressure, though, didn't translate into immediate success. Lonzo wasn't technically a bad player — he had some good nights like scoring a then-career high 29 points and had 11 rebounds and nine assists in just his second NBA game — but he was largely consistent during his rookie season with the Lakers.
The oldest Ball brother struggled with his shooting form, often criticized for his awkward mechanics and inconsistency.
He also battled shoulder and knee injuries that limited him to just 52 games. And the following season, after showing some progress, Zo suffered an ankle sprain that sidelined him again.
The Lakers, needing to make room for a superstar, packaged Ball along with Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart to the New Orleans Pelicans in the blockbuster trade that brought Anthony Davis to Los Angeles in 2019.
While Ball showed glimpses of improvement with the Pelicans, better shooting numbers, improved defensive presence and more confident decision-making, the fanfare that once surrounded him had quieted.
LaVar's voice, too, faded from the headlines. The NBA had moved on from the spectacle.
What remained was a young point guard trying to carve out a steady career without the burden of exaggerated expectations.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
