I cannot figure out if LaVar Ball, the enigmatic father of three basketball prodigies, is a genius using common man’s-speak or, really just a common man speaking nonsense.
It looks as if the senior-most Ball, who couldn’t keep himself out of his children’s high school, college or professional careers, is now working to get them all on the same NBA team. According to Donatas Urbonas, a basketball journalist from Lithuania, Ball has a whole plan about how to make sure all the Ball kids end up playing together:
Assuming that Ball is being serious and not just doing his black-dad-as-WWE-wrestling thing, that means Lonzo would not re-sign with the Lakers at the end of his rookie contract but would in turn sign only with a team willing to take the more mediocre Balls, LaMelo and LiAngelo.
He also said that if the Lakers don’t want to sign LaMelo—and who are we kidding? The Lakers don’t want to sign LaMelo—then he would bring him back to Lithuania to stash until Lonzo was done with his rookie contract, Sports Illustrated reports.
He even went so far as to note that an NBA team doesn’t have to draft LaMelo or LiAngelo, and added that LiAngelo, arguably the worst of the Ball offspring, could be signed for $1 million, because he’s going to be making so much money off the court that he won’t need the NBA money. What he’s really saying is: “Please take the less-talented Ball so that I don’t have to hear about how I ruined his career.”
Lonzo is currently nursing a knee injury but was averaging fairly good rookie numbers: 10.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 7.1 assists in 36 games this season, according to SI.
Something tells me that this is a classic case of overplaying one’s hand. While the Balls are a talented trio, they aren’t nearly as talented as their father believes them to be, and the worst part is, I don’t know if Big Ball realized this early on and injected himself into their lives to build a brand, or if he really believes this and can’t see the damage he’s doing.
I guess we will have to wait and see.