Lavar Ball Is Taking Over The NBA

A new family took over basketball this season – The Balls. And Lavar Ball, the father, is making sure they are here to stay. I personally found out about the Ball family a couple of months ago when a video of a ridiculous shot was making rounds on the internet. It was Lavar’s youngest son, LaMelo making a half-court shot. It wasn’t that he made a half-court shot that was so amazing, it was the the fact he walked up, pointed at the halfcourt line, and promptly drained it from the spot he pointed to in the biggest show of bravado I’ve ever seen from an amateur player. There was also this one time he scored 92 points in a game.

https://twitter.com/Ballislife/status/813651105565405185

Did I mention he’s 15 years old?! LaMelo’s brothers are LiAngelo (18) and Lonzo (19). Lonzo is currently a freshman at UCLA (his brothers have already committed to follow in his footsteps at UCLA). Lonzo is going to be a lottery pick that is poised to go top-3 or maybe even number 1. I’ve watched this kid play, he’s reaalllllllly good. The most common NBA comparison is Jason Kidd. In other words, Lonzo can ball.

LaMelo and Lonzo have brought the Ball family into prominence, but it’s their father, Lavar who is doing whatever he can to make sure they stay relevant. He has his own brand (Big Baller Brand) where he sells shirts and hats that cost more than Jordan equivalents. He has quickly built up a reputation of saying anything and everything. Most noticeably, he said Lonzo Ball is better than Steph Curry, the current two time MVP. His explanation was, “Put Steph Curry on UCLA’s team right now and put my boy on Golden State and watch what happens” (via SBnation). He said his kids will only sign a deal if it’s for a billion dollars. He said he would beat Michael Jordan one-on-one. Yes, THAT Michael Jordan. The Greatest Of All Time. It should be noted that Lavar Ball played one season in college, where he averaged 2.2 points per game meanwhile, Michael Jordan was only scoring a “measly” 35 points per game in the NBA. If you want to see everything Lavar has said, take a look at this list.

Recently though, Lavar might have gone too far. Lavar was on a podcast when he mentioned that the big superstars in the NBA didn’t have great NBA fathers. He then brought up Lebron and his kids. He insinuated that Lebron’s kids are not going to be very good in the NBA. Lebron called him out for it (rightfully, in my opinion) and told him, “Keep my kids’ name out of your mouth, keep my family out of your mouth. This is dad to dad. It’s a problem now.” But if you think that would shut up Lavar, you were very wrong. Lavar doubled down on his initial opinion and basically said I said what I said. He clarified that he just hasn’t seen any superstar have good basketball kids (he’s actually right) and that if people ask questions he’s going to answer them. Oh Lavar.

With Lonzo about to enter the NBA and two other kids after him, we’ve only seen the beginning of Lavar Ball.