Lonzo Ball will officially made his return to the court on Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors and his new superstar teammate, LeBron James, was as excited as anyone.

After giving him an unofficial welcome back post on Instagram on Monday, James reiterated on Tuesday that Ball has looked great since returning to the floor.

James and Ball will work together to try and lead the Lakers to their first playoff berth in five seasons, however, in order to do that, James will have to Ball under his wing both on and off the court. Luckily, there are few more people more qualified to do that.

Like Ball, James was drafted by his hometown team and came into the league with lofty expectations. James shared his thoughts on the ways he can relate to Ball for that reason.

“I think in a similar fact that you get drafted to a franchise that wasn’t as successful as they’d like to be, obviously they had way more success here in the past before he was drafted than we had in Cleveland ever, so I’m not comparing the two franchises, but when you’re drafted that high and you’re a local kid people have seen you grow your whole life so they expect you to be great every night. In that sense I can understand,” James said.

As far as mentors go, Ball can do a lot worse than James. Hopefully James’ ability to understand Ball on a deeper level will translate to success on the court for the Lakers.

SOURCE: USA Today | Lonzo Wire – Christian Rivas