Lonzo Ball left his final day of work this season wearing a Lakers hoodie. Below were shorts from his personal brand, but they still were gold, trimmed with purple and white.

A lifelong Lakers fan and Los Angeles area native, Ball summarized his rookie season after his exit meetings with Lakers management by saying: “We did better than we did last year.”

Um, Lonzo wasn’t actually on the team last year.

But that’s just the way he sees this organization as his. That’s partly his loyalty, partly how secure he feels here, partly how team-oriented he is.

It will be an especially interesting offseason for Ball.

Magic Johnson and Pelinka are saying thanks for Ball’s team ball, but they want him to tap into more of the individual. Wherever he needs to go to find more of himself, Ball has been tasked to return for training camp more physically durable, more individually vocal, and more eager to score for himself.

With more individual dominance will come automatic improvement in Ball’s team. That’s as logical as scoring more points by making free throws, as basic as drawing more defense to him, and as far-reaching as occupying more defensive game plans.

So Johnson outright used the word “selfish” in prodding Ball publicly.

If you want to be an All-Star and lead this team to the playoffs, we can’t tell you how to work in the offseason. That’s got to be something you choose to do. Rob Pelinka

“You think about how he makes his teammates better; Lonzo is a master at that,” Johnson said. “But now I need him to be more aggressive on the offensive end when he goes to that basket. Now he has to be selfish some and he has to look to score. That's what we talked about, Rob and I to him, and that he has to also develop a couple more shots.”

Lakers coach Luke Walton praised Ball for handling so much going on around him as a rookie. But Walton also noted that Ball is going to have to stay loyal to himself and his career in the coming months, even though his girlfriend is pregnant and his family’s business ventures continue.

Walton wasn’t going to suggest family is less important than basketball, but he said dedication to one’s chosen craft should be “very close” to the top.

“Part of the experience of going through it is learning how to say no to certain things and prioritizing your time because everyone’s gonna want your time,” Walton said. “People all summer long are gonna want Zo here and there. Fans are gonna want to see him. The Lakers, we’re gonna want him in here. He’s got his family, a daughter on the way. So he’s got all sorts of things pulling at him. And as a player, it’s important that you prioritize.”

That’s why Johnson declared to Ball, 20, that he was facing “the biggest summer of his life.” And Pelinka made sure Ball heard how directly correlated greater goals are to the immediate advancements Ball targets this offseason.

“We said to him,” Pelinka recounted, “ ‘If you want to be an All-Star and lead this team to the playoffs, we can’t tell you how to work in the offseason. That’s got to be something you choose to do. You should be hunting down the weight coaches. You should be hunting down the basketball development coaches. You should be begging to get in the gym and developing that drive for greatness.’

“I know that’s in him–but he’s so young.”