Lonzo Ball and other Lakers rookies about to get a taste of life on the road

The Ball family took its first family vacation ever this summer — a four-day trip to Hawaii.

Traveling just hasn’t been a big part of Lonzo Ball’s life so far. He grew up in Chino Hills, stayed home for college and outside of UCLA’s two-week trip to Australia last year, his college road trips weren’t long.

That’s about to change in a big way.

“I got a suitcase,” Ball said. “But I don’t have very [much] cold attire. I’m from out here. So a couple sweatsuits going to have to do it.”

On Tuesday, the Lakers leave for Boston, where they will play Wednesday. It’s just a four-game trip and it will span a week, but it is the first of many — and the first in the careers of Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart. The Lakers have nine multi-city trips this year, including seven that involve three or more cities.

“We trust that they can pack,” coach Luke Walton said. “But we also expect them to make some mistakes and then they’ll learn from those mistakes.”

After the Boston game, they’ll fly to Washington to play the Wizards on Thursday. Then to Milwaukee with a break between games before playing the Bucks on Saturday. Then they’ll hop a plane for Phoenix where they’ll face the Suns on Monday.

It’s still an 82-game schedule, but the NBA tried this year to make it less strenuous on the players. They reduced the number of times teams had to play four games in five nights. They tried to reduce the number of back-to-back games, though the Lakers already have had three sets in their first 10 games.

This trip includes three Eastern Conference teams at a further stage of their development than the Lakers. The Celtics lead the East, having won nine consecutive games.

“We got three potential playoff teams in the East so it’s definitely going to be a test for us,” Kuzma said. “Like you said, [the Celtics are] playing unbelievable basketball. They have Kyrie Irving. A lot of young assets that they’re putting together. Just got [Marcus] Morris back. It’s going to be a dogfight.”

The Wizards will seek revenge after losing to the Lakers in Los Angeles despite fielding elite point guard John Wall, and the Bucks feature Giannis Antetokounmpo, perhaps the player in the NBA with the brightest future. The 22-year-old forward also is a player Kuzma says he aspires to emulate.

The Lakers have played only three games on the road and each was a one-game trip. They beat the Suns on the second night of a back-to-back in which Ball was one assist away from a triple-double. They lost at Utah and Portland, on a game-winning three by Damian Lillard.

Home has been kinder to the Lakers — they’ve won three games in a row at Staples Center.

A trip offers new challenges for players who have never experienced them. In college, most trips might include two games, always with a day in between. During Summer League, the young Lakers began to get a taste of how tough life on the road can be in the NBA. They played games on three consecutive days at one point and were gone for longer than all but one other team, having made the championship game.

Walton hasn’t given much thought to how to prepare the young players for their first multi-city trip. He expects they’ll adjust with experience, just like he did.

The first cold weather trip Walton took when he played for the Lakers caused a bit of a shock.

As rookies back then, he and Brian Cook were required to help then-equipment manager Rudy Garciduenas unload the plane once it reached its destination and Walton didn’t have a winter coat.

One night they landed in Minnesota at 3 a.m.

“I was outside with Rudy unloading a plane in a T-shirt and some jeans and it was probably negative-20 outside,” Walton said. “But since that mistake I now pack winter coats every time I go on these type of trips.”

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli