Adjusting to the NBA is a challenging process for any rookie. It has to be a lot more difficult when your father is in the habit of creating outrageous headlines.
That’s the experience for Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball, whose dad LaVar is a master at getting the family noticed in the media. The latest example was a tirade against L.A. coach Luke Walton, who has lost control of the team and no longer has the support of his players, at least according to LaVar Ball.
“You can see they’re not playing for Luke no more,” Ball said from Lithuania, where his other two sons are playing in a professional league. “Luke doesn’t have control of the team no more. They don’t want to play for him. … Nobody wants to play for him. I can see it. No high-fives when they come out of the game. People don’t know why they’re in the game. He’s too young. He’s too young. … He ain’t connecting with them anymore. You can look at every player, he’s not connecting with not one player.”
It was a distraction the Lakers didn’t need with the team mired in a long losing streak. It became the dominant topic of conversation in Los Angeles this weekend, with Walton, some of his players and opposing coaches all commenting on the situation. The Lakers’ lack of an immediate response also became a story when nobody in the front office came forward to defend Walton.
This isn’t the first time Ball has gone after Walton, and the Lakers thought it was enough of an issue that team president Magic Johnson and GM Rob Pelinka met with Ball in late November to tell him to ease up on the public comments. If that meeting had any effects on Ball, they clearly have worn off.
Our question for tonight is what should the Lakers do next? Is there a way they can keep LaVar Ball from attacking their coach or is this a risk they knew they were taking when they drafted Lonzo? Jump into our comments section and give us your response.
Trade Ball
Yea right
Shouldn’t The clown Lavar be out of the country with his two youngest kids?
That doesn’t mean he blocks his other kid out of his head
But maybe it means we don’t have to hear from the Clown.
He doesn’t have to block his kid out of his head, he just needs to block his mouth from his head.
Definitely a risk they had to process before drafting Lonzo. Maybe invite some sort of fine system for “Conduct Detrimental to the Team” that also (specifically) applies to LaVar
I think they knew there was a risk this was going to be an issue but Magic and others in the org probably assumed they could handle it. They had been in the NBA longer and this was the “big leagues” and he no longer is under Dad’s roof. I think they assumed that Lonzo would be more of an adult and speak for himself but as we can see NONE of those assumptions are correct. I also think they thought Lonzo’s play was going to be good enough that it would quite the haters and possibly the Dad but his play has NOT been what it was hyped to be pre-draft. I think they don’t regret drafting him but are seriously questioning it. I also think he is going to alienate himself on the team. His teammates will learn they can’t trust him if he is telling his Dad things said in the locker room. I think it will run it’s course in two years. If it isn’t better by the end of next year I see him traded ( that’s IF another team wants to take him at all and deal with the circus.
Quiet* the haters. Not Quite.
Quiet* the haters. Not Quite.
Magic needs to put the guy in his place and remind him he promised him he wouldn’t be doing this crap when he was thinking of drafting Ball. Take away all his credentials. Espn needs to quit reporting on all his bull crap too. This guy is out ridiculous. I actually use to be fan of what he was doing, how much he loved his kids and family in general and how he was creating a brand but now I’m just fed up with the circus act. There is no place for his non sense and you don’t hear from any other parent like we hear from him but as long people give him attention he will keep going.
They need to trade Lonzo. He s never going to be a superstar or team leader. He will be lucky to develop into a condo type, if he ends up on a half way decent team. They need to trade Lonzo to an established team that not only won’t deal with lavar nonsense, nobody will believe a word of it on a real team. If lavar keeps making false claims about what the Lakers say or do or think, they could have a case in a lawsuit. Either way, the Lakers want the attention, because otherwise nobody is watching them lose.
Rondo not condo. Obviously.
Or condo type…or possibly even single family home type
What will happen when LiAngelo and LaMelo don’t make a pro team? Obviously the BBB is in trouble. What happens when it goes under? Lonzo bought LaVar a $400,000 Rolls Royce convertible for Christmas. Will Lonzo continue to finance his dad’s blunders? For the Lakers the only answer to LaVar is to at some point to trade Lonzo, just like the people who made the teeshirts for Lithuania are having to take LaVar to court to get their money!
They’re already on a pro team.
They are playing 5 games against the lowest level European League teams and it wouldn’t surprise me if the games weren’t staged like when LaVar was on WWE. The team they were supposed to play with had to drop their schedule to do this 5 game tournament.
Society is backwards, Lavar Ball is the only person making me even pay attention to this boring NBA. Call the man whatever you want but he is entertainment and he is totally right. Walton inherited this team and is not doing much, this team should at least be vying for an 8th seed instead they sit at the bottom of the West. The NBA is so boring now, no one has a personality or says anything interesting.
LaVar wants to protest everything just to get headlines, and that’s wrong. The Lakers provide Lonzo a good living. LaVar wants to mess it up. UCLA provided LiAngelo a good education. LaVar messed it up. LaMelo was in the top 20 per 247 Sports in the junior class. LaVar messed it up.
Now LaVar is ripping off people with his shoes. The man is a fraud. See the Better Business Bureau report. Also see the lawsuit against LaVar by the company that made the tee shirts for him. He says those complaining about the quality of the shoes or not getting them are”small Ballers.” Even says it’s Nike and Adidas complaining. He lies out his butt to get attention.
For Walton. See the 24 game winning streak when he was coaching the Warriors when Kerr was out. If Lonzo was on team, but didn’t make the All_Star game, LaVar still would have said it was Walton’s fault.
Charles Barkley said LaVar is the worst dad in the world for exploiting his kids. Who’s fault is that? Lonzo isn’t a bad player, he’s just not great. His dad makes him uncoachable because he thinks he has the answer to everything. He wanted to play in the NFL. He played in Europe. Enough said.
If you say no one in NBA is interesting and the league is boring, you haven’t been watching.
You are saying Lonzo is not great? So let me get this straight the kid puts up 29 11 9 on Phoenix and has had multiple 20 point games showcasing how good an all around point guard he is and will be and he won’t be great? You are just irritated you can’t express or do what Lavar does, hate all you want dude when he does have his 2 other sons in the NBA and BBB becomes huge you’ll be praising him. I actually appreciate seeing someone have a voice, I can’t even watch a full NBA game these days because everything is a foul or a tech. Lebron and Curry are the faces of the league and neither says anything interesting just a bunch of repetitive nonsense, Lebron makes himself out to be smarter then he actually is. Stir it up a little bit, talk some trash the product has become so boring. Excuse me I am from the 90’s era, this floor spacing no hand checking BS is corny. Getting back to Lavar though, the man is straight up entertainment and I sure hope the league had someone with his personality. If you criticize the man it is because you are boring and live life like a hermit lol.
Lonzo isn’t even the best rookie on his team. The NBA is not the WWE or Wrestling so I am not sure why you think we need some kind of character out there making wild claims. You know sadly at the beginning of all of this Ball family hype I rooted for the oldest and thought that once he get’s into the NBA his Dad will no longer be his mouthpiece. NOW it’s actually WORSE! He can’t even stand up for himself and when asked about the Walton situation he deflects and says His Dad is his own man and speaks his mind, nothing I can do. What he could have said was My Dad is his own man and speaks his mind but it doesn’t mean I agree with everything he says. I support coach Walton and so does this team. Like I said in my earlier post, If I was one of his teammates I would start questioning Lonzos loyalties. Is he telling his Dad private conversations about what his teammates are saying? Hell they have already had to talk to him about being a team player when it comes to sticking up for you teammates. Ball walked right past one of his teammates going toe to toe with someone and acted like he didn’t care while the entire team came rushing over.
The NBA is just fake, Lebron and Curry try to portray themselves as good guys and behind the scenes they are a bunch of clowns. Michael Jordan would trash talk you all game get you mad and drop 40-50 on your head and have you wanting to quit the NBA lmao. That is what I miss, just tell it how it is. This is all you hear from Lebron”we’ve got to be better”, dude is the ultimate fraud and total opposite of what I want to see as the face of the league. Stir it up a bit, go jaw to jaw with KD, say the Warriors are nothing to scoff at to build ratings. I absolutely love what Lavar is doing because we all know Luke is overrated and even Mike Brown looked like COY coaching the well oiled machine Golden State Warriors. I could have coached that team to a 24-0 start, it’s the only reason he even has a job.
Lavar missed his calling. He probably could have made a lot of money being a heel manager in WWE. Heck he should probably call up Vince to see if he can get LiAngelo and LaMelo tryouts at the WWE Performance Center. They could train those two as a tag team and Lavar as their manager. He would then get all the attention he wants and nobody would complain about it. They could even call their tag team Big Ballers to get publicity for his failed company.
Dude Damon Lilliard outscored Lonzo 32-0. He is going to have to spend the offseason correcting his shot. He is in the bottom 10% in the league in shooting. Offer Lonzo in trades and see what response you get. Maybe a low first round pick. He has a very long way to go to be great.
For LaVar unfortunately the world has to watch
out for scammers and con artists. LaVar is definitely one of them.
How much do you want to bet on LiAngelo and LaMelo playing with Lonzo on the Lakers. Do you want to bet everything you have?
I know Gelo and Melo will play with Lonzo by 2020, I can’t wait maybe then I’ll tune in and watch a full NBA game.
Only place they will be playing together is in Lithuania.
There’s no sense in discussing this. You are pretending to be LaVar. You know what the truth is and so do I. You just want to stir up shit. We’ll see in 2 years where the Balls are. Lonzo will be the only one left standing. You know this and so do I. Last comment.
Lmao someone is mad, its okay dude I know Lavar will be a success.
Magic will eventually step on LaVar!
Magic probably loves the guy since he is not some uptight butthurt person in real life. Magic made Kareem actually smile when he got to LA, my god have you seen how dry and serious Kareem is? Lavar at least entertains people, Walton is too nice of a guy to coach this team.
I go to a basketball game to see basketball. If I want to see someone like LaVar, I’lll go to a bar. Magic is a NBA Hall of Famer. For business, the Dodgers made it to the World Series.
For LaVar, he tried to make it to the NFL and failed. For business, his BBB is in court already for not paying their bills.
God I hope not. You comment enough for someone who doesn’t watch I can’t even imagine what you say when you do
LeGarbage got romped again, first by Jimmy and now Demar lmaooo. I saw the whole game and dude is trash, no heart.
Cavs don’t care about regular season. Look up LaVars stats. He averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds a game at Washington State, then went to football. He wants his boys to be everything he couldn’t be. Lonzo might, the other 2 won’t.
Lakers need to put out a hit on LaVar and call it a day.
Why don’t you do it yourself tough guy? Easy to type behind that electronic device huh.
LeVar has done nothing to me, so that’s a pass good buddy.
Clearly he is doing something to you since all week you have commented about killing the guy and his 16 year old son. Surprised you haven’t been banned from this site yet psycho
What I would love to see happen is Lebron signing with another team and then publicly saying that he didn’t sign with the Lakers because he did want to deal with the distractions that LaVar causes. If that doesn’t shut LaVar up nothing will.
Lebron is not as wanted as people make it seem, he’s a drama queen and wants control anywhere he is which is why I highly doubt he leaves Cleveland.
Magic needs to give stern warning knock it off or you will damage the contact his boy. Banned from games. Media banned from interviewing would be nice. Don’t give him what he wants and that’s the attention. Each pit burst equals a fine towards his kid for not controlling his crazy dad. He needs to get clocked and checked that mouth is the worst thing in the all sports. Negative and BS.
Really? The only interesting thing going on in the NBA is Lavar ball.
If you like losers!!
His dad is playing the game through his kids since he sucked so bad had to have 3 kids to make it up. Well I guess family sucking together is a tight sucking family. They need to come out with ball suckers. Suckem, Lickem , tossem in the trash for 2 points. Only kinda points they get trash trash trash
Lonzo is a fine player already. That he might fall short of great does not negate his merits, and I would not rule out great eventually either.
And Lebron critics are mostly just mad he is somewhere else!
Did you see Joe Vardon’s article? LeBron said back in September he still wants to retire in Cleveland. There has got to be a way to shut up LaVar!