News of Lonzo Ball's knee injury that surfaced last week coincided with rumors saying the Lakers guard was on the trading block.
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According to an ESPN report, that's not a coincidence.
Yahoo Sports reported June 29, Ball had a torn meniscus in his left knee. While he is expected to be ready for training camp, news of the injury certainly didn't help his trade value.
And some in the Lakers organization believe that's why the news came out, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
"That knee injury, I think there was a belief around the Lakers is that it was within his world that that got leaked out there to keep him from getting traded," Wojnarowski said. "He doesn’t want to be traded from L.A. It wasn’t the Lakers who wanted information out on that knee injury.
"There were a lot of teams who were checking on possible deals with the Lakers. They wanted to know. There were a lot of questions about that knee."
If the report is true, this wouldn't be the first time a player's agent or other aides worked to sabotage a potential deal. LaVar Ball noted recently that if the Lakers traded Lonzo, it would be the "worst move they ever made."