Lonzo Ball is the Lakers’ new direction, and D’Angelo Russell’s abrupt trade proves it

In Lonzo Ball, the Los Angeles Lakers have an anti-D’Angelo Russell. No wonder they traded away their former star point guard just a month ago for little in return, clearing a path for Ball as the team’s new starter.

It signals not only a player swap, but a culture change they believed they needed to make.

Ball is off to a slow start in some ways, weighed down by a miserable four-point opener where he missed jumper after jumper in the Las Vegas Summer League. But at the same time, his skills are on full display. He recorded a triple-double in his second game, and another one two games later. He’s averaging 16.3 points, 9.3 assists, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.5 steals, even if he’s shooting under 40 percent from the field.

If you’re too busy complaining about the Ball family or hyperventilating over which shoes Ball is wearing, then you might have missed that. For all the criticism that has been lobbied at the Balls, and some are valid, you shouldn’t conflate them with Lonzo Ball’s actual play. The No. 2 pick in this summer’s NBA draft is a creative coxswain playing the game in a manner somewhat unlike any we’ve seen before.

Like this:

And this:

Passes in this manner aren’t flashy for the sake of flash, or done for any purpose but their effectiveness.

And that’s why Ball is such a polar opposite from what the Lakers had before.

Russell has a home in Brooklyn, and they value him highly. Nobody says they shouldn’t, especially for the price for which he was acquired — Brook Lopez on the final year of his deal, and a late first-round draft pick that turned into Kyle Kuzma, who’s promising but is already about to turn 22.

However, in two years with the Lakers, Russell did not consistently make his teammates better. The team was about five points better with him off the floor during his rookie year. Last year, it was around three. There will always be some noise in the numbers with teams that are as bad as Los Angeles has been for two years. But it vibes with the eye test and what we know about Russell, too.

Russell’s pre-draft passing highlights haven’t translated to him becoming a real life floor general. He’s a fine passer, averaging 4.8 assists per game last season in 29 minutes per game. But increasingly, he looks like a scorer in the lead ball handler spot. (And a scorer who shot 40.5 percent from the floor last year, mind you.) His assist-to-pass percentage, per NBA.com’s SportsVU data, was 9.5 percent. That’s more in line with players like Goran Dragic (9.7) and Victor Oladipo (9.2), rather than Kyle Lowry (11.5) or Jrue Holiday (12.0). Chris Paul, a solid gold standard, recorded 14.4 percent last year.

The Lakers also clearly had some sort of problem Russell’s off-court demeanor, or attitude, or whichever word you feel fits best in that situation. What happened with the Snapchat incident two years ago, if isolated to that alone, was blown up. But there have long been rumors that it was more than that — not another specific incident, but a consistent pattern of immaturity.

If true, it makes even more sense how little in return the Lakers were willing to take in exchange for shipping him away.

There’s none of LaVar Ball’s braggadocio in Lonzo when he talks. It’s telling that the biggest headlines that the basketball-playing Ball has made in summer league is for his choice of shoe wear — an unspoken statement that he has explained in extremely vague terms, rather than the boasting and bluster attributed to his father.

Ball is the best passer in Las Vegas. His passes have everything you could ask for: pacing, rhythm, on-time and effective delivery. There’s another universe where Ball would be the best UPS delivery man in the world. (Please don’t groan too harshly at that one.)

Every team benefits from a player like Ball, especially since he’s a catch-and-shoot threat off the ball as well. The Lakers are certainly hoping his passing and general basketball approach spreads to their young team that’s hoping to make a positive step towards legitimacy in the Western Conference.

All of that is why the Lakers would replace Russell for Ball so willingly, swapping a No. 2 pick for another No. 2 pick just two years later. Russell represents a conventional point guard, one who scores but maybe not efficiently enough, one who racks up assists but perhaps not enough to improve an offense by his mere presence. Add in Russell’s other concerns, and you can see why the Lakers moved quickly to ship him out of town. In Brooklyn, Russell can start over — something that could and should benefit all parties.

Ball, on the other hand, has the potential to make his teammates better with or without the ball in his hands. It’s still only summer league — questions about his ability to create looks and certainly his defensive abilities abound. But Ball’s play looks translatable.

The biggest question is whether the way he plays basketball can be translated to his teammates, too. Los Angeles is betting that it can be.