Lonzo Ball of the Los Angeles Lakers hasn't had the desired start to his NBA career, but he is still getting the comparisons to some of the greatest players to have ever played the same.On Thursday night, Los Angeles lost 111-95 to the Washington Wizards at the Capital One Arnea. Ball finished up with a stat line of 10 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists, shooting 3-for-12 on field-goal tries, 1-of-7 from 3-point range, and 3-of-7 from the charity stripe.While his stats say on the night he was close to achieving a triple-double on the night, in truth, he hasn't been that great in his first 12 games as a member of the Lakers. Nevertheless, his head coach, Luke Walton, still has a lot of confidence in him.Better yet for Ball, Walton is still making the Kobe Bryant comparison he made a couple of weeks ago about his rookie. He was happy with how his second overall pick performed against Washington but he admits he needs to start making missed shots.The Lakers head coach said: “He’s an incredible player. He’s 20 years old. He almost had a triple-double tonight. But any time you turn on any sports show, all they talk about is his shot. He’s already playing for the Lakers. So he’s got a lot more pressure on him than I think anyone has in a long time that’s come out from college.”

Walton brought back the Black Mamba comparison into the picture when discussing whether Zo’s confidence in his shot might be the reason behind so many missing opportunities.

“It’s different for everyone. I played with Kobe Bryant. I’ve seen him miss 14 straight and get pissed off that we didn’t give him the ball back on that 15th play. So some people don’t ever lose confidence.”

There's still plenty of time for Ball to turn his fortunes around. After all, he's only 12 games into year one of what is expected to be a career for many years in the NBA for the Lakers.

The rookie point guard will be looking to start the process of turning his shooting form around when Los Angeles plays again on Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks.