LaVar says son is better off without Lakers
“They’ll never win another championship in their life, guarantee it.”
Those were fighting words from LaVar Ball about the future of the Lakers’ franchise after they traded away their former No. 2 pick Lonzo Ball — his son — to the Pelicans on Saturday.
Apparently, LaVar Ball has forgotten about LeBron James. But the Ball patriarch hasn’t just hexed the Lakers for making a move they deemed would give them their best shot at a championship. He went on ESPN’s First Take to defend Lonzo and made an ass of himself when one of the show’s hosts Molly Qerim asked him a question.
“I’m playing chess, ya’ll suckers playing checkers,” LaVar said first to Stephen A. Smith during the 11 a.m. segment. “The best way to get Lonzo out of L.A. is I said, ‘you know what I don’t like New Orleans, Lonzo ain’t going nowhere, he’s the best in the world and the L.A. Lakers ain’t never gon’ let him go.’ The first thing they do is exactly what I want ‘em to do: let him go. Because it’s raggedy over there.
“They did exactly what I wanted them to do. One of the best teams he’ll (Lonzo) play on is New Orleans.”
Lonzo Ball being traded — along with Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three future first-round picks — was a logical move considering his shoddy performance, coupled with his various knee, shoulder and ankle injuries in his first two seasons in the NBA after only playing one season at UCLA.
Last season, Lonzo Ball shot only 40 percent, made just 41 percent of his free throws and just 32 percent of his three-point attempts, which were often too short. Of course LaVar interrupted co-host Max Kellerman once he called out Lonzo’s shooting, saying, “How’s Lonzo’s shot jacked up? And you got perfect form and you can’t hit a free throw? Don’t worry about nobody’s form. Worry about what they do.”
But that’s exactly what Kellerman was trying to say, that Lonzo’s poor offense was costing him and the Lakers points. But LaVar continued his rant:
“In some of the games, you see him shoot the game and you see (like) when he played against the Spurs, you gotta believe and let him do what he does and he’ll start knocking down shots when you’re supposed to knock ‘em down. Ain’t no big deal. Look at, uh, boy VanFleet (Fred VanVleet). He can’t shoot to save his life, but now at the end, playoff championships, he’ll shoot the lights out. Look at that. Bang bang!
“When he (Lonzo) shoots the lights out in New Orleans, folks gon’ be like ‘man I knew he shoot.’ He gon’ have the same raggedy form with that ball going in in yo face. and I’m gonna tell everyone when they’re shooting on the other side, ‘Holla!’”
Qerim moved forward with the segment, brushing off the rambling responses with, “Okay let’s stay focused here” then asking LaVar to elaborate on the ‘exploding boat’ analogy he used to describe the Lakers.
Ball said the Lakers had no direction. But by making the trade for Anthony Davis, on a team that already has James, the Lakers direction is obviously, win now and win often.
And no matter how much LaVar says he doesn’t care where Lonzo plays or that he’ll be great anywhere and with any other teammates, LaVar was always Lonzo’s biggest proponent of Lonzo being a franchise hero of the family’s hometown team. Sure, Lonzo has his entire career ahead of him, to which many, including the FT hosts, have agreed could be bright.
But LaVar has made it clear time and time again that whatever his son does or doesn’t do, it’s all about him.