For the third game in a row and fifth time in his last seven, Lonzo Ball flirted with a triple-double. His 15 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 112-106 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Monday left the rookie out of UCLA just shy of hitting that hallowed statistical mark for the third time in his young NBA career.

Not that the Crown Prince of Chino Hills was at all concerned about his stats.

“Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn’t,” Ball said matter-of-factly after the game at Little Caesar’s Arena. “I just try to do what I can to help my team win.”

For Ball, ignoring the numbers allows him to avoid the distraction of chasing certain plays for the sake of the box score—and, potentially, to the detriment of his team.

“I like to play free, so I ain’t looking at stats or nothing,” he said. “I just go out there, focus on the score.”

So while many (if not most) NBA players might take time to check the stat sheet while they’re in the locker room, Lonzo would rather not hear about it.

“Everybody knows don’t tell me what I have,” he said. “I’m better off just playing freely.”

By and large, that approach has worked well for Zo. And though it hasn’t yielded many wins of late—the Lakers have lost five of their last six games—Ball’s mindset is precisely the kind around which an organization can build a successful squad.