College Basketball

UCLA Basketball: Comparing Lonzo Ball and a young Jason Kidd

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:39 p.m. ET

Fansided, Christopher Hines/FanSided via Busting Brackets

UCLA basketball point guard Lonzo Ball is playing out of his mind and is being compared to Jason Kidd.

Freshman Lonzo Ball is currently leading the undefeated UCLA Bruins. UCLA is ranked 2nd in the nation and has a monumental win over Kentucky with Pac-12 play beginning soon.

Because of Ball’s hot start, some across the nation are already comparing the freshman to a young Jason Kidd.

Like Ball, Kidd had gifted passing skills. He was always a great distributor, but he was even better at seeing the play before it happened. That’s exactly the case with Ball, who drops dimes in transition, racks up the assists in the half-court and throws beautiful outlet passes.

Ball is only a freshman but he’s averaging 8.8 assists per game. He makes his teammates better and his IQ is off the charts. Defenders could surround Ball and he still will throw a cross-court pass to a wide-open shooter.

But it’s not just the passing dynamic that makes these two similar.

Kidd wasn’t a good shooter until the later years of his career. He even received the nickname “Ace” because of his shooting woes. During Kidd’s college career, he shot 33 percent from three and was even a poor free throw shooter at 67 percent.

Ball on the other hand can really stroke it from deep. He’s averaging 15 points per game, while shooting 56 percent overall and 45 percent from long range. Ball can shoot off the catch and he has the potential to nail jumpers off the dribble. However, he’s shooting a pedestrian 67 percent from the free throw line and has an awkward shooting motion. His jump shot could be exposed at the pro level if he doesn’t tweak his form.

Kidd won NBA Rookie of the Year, was a 10-time All-Star and eventually became an NBA champion. You can’t say for sure that Lonzo Ball has that same future, but with the way his career has taken off, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him change the dynamic of a pro franchise.