Don keeps blasting LaVar & praising himself
PRESIDENT TRUMP continued his trash talk battle with LaVar Ball Wednesday calling the blowhard basketball dad an “ungrateful fool” for downplaying his role in freeing Ball’s son from Chinese criminal custody.
Trump’s Twitter tirade followed Ball’s assertion days earlier that the President had little to do with the release of LiAngelo Ball and two UCLA teammates after they were arrested on shoplifting charges during a China road trip.
“It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father Lavar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence — IT WAS ME,” Trump tweeted, swinging his elbows in a pre-dawn rant.
“LaVar is just a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair,” Trump wrote.
“You could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you,” Trump added, failing to note that Ball’s other son, Lonzo, is the Los Angeles Lakers guard.
“But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It’s a really big deal, especially in China.” “Ungrateful fool,” he said. The one-on-one began after Ball refused to thank Trump for talking to Chinese President President Xi Jinping on the players’ behalf.
Ball, on CNN, said the Chinese leader was more deserving of his gratitude than Trump, and that he would have been more impressed with Trump if he had brought them home on Air Force One.
LiAngelo was arrested Nov. 6 along with teammates Cody Riley and Jalen Hill.
They were suspended indefinitely upon their return. They all thanked Trump at a UCLA news conference.
But Ball said Trump didn’t do that much.
“I helped my son get out of China,” Ball said. “I had some people that had boots on the ground that knew the situation.”
Ball also suggested that the shoplifting charge wasn’t that big a deal because LiAngelo had never been in trouble, and was a straight-A student.
“I’m from L.A.,” Ball said. “I’ve seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. My son has built up enough character that one bad decision doesn’t define him.”
The no-thank you feud may end up being a good thing for Ball’s bottom line.
Ball’s Big Baller Brand of sneakers and sports apparel has received about $13.2 million in free digital and TV advertising, according to Yahoo Sports.
Apex Marketing Group president Eric Smallwood firm told Yahoo he came up with the estimate by tracking the number of references to the Big Baller Brand in the media during that time and measuring that against typical ad rates.
But the war of words had one unexpected casualty — actor LeVar Burton, who was targeted with a ton of internet hate intended for LaVar Ball.
Burton took the mixup in stride, retweeting news stories about the confusion.
“One of many sleights I am having to endure these days,” he tweeted.