LaVar Ball —- famous helicopter dad of UCLA star freshman Lonzo Ball —- has been taking shots at just about everyone the last few weeks as his son has gotten more primetime viewers with the Pac-12 Tournament and now the NCAA Tournament. That included taking a shot at basketball's best player right now in LeBron James.
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On an episode of "In the Zone with Chris Broussard", Ball hurled a shot at LeBron and his kids. LeBron Jr. is 12 while younger brother Bryce is only nine —- compared to Ball's sons who are all teenagers —- and Jr. does hold standing offers from the likes of Duke and Kentucky, but that didn't stop Ball from saying they aren't set up to succeed later in life. Here's what he said on the podcast:
"The monsters in the NBA, their dads wasn't that good," Ball said. "They were OK, they was players, but the fact that the old [Dell] Curry wasn't no All-Star, he wasn't cold. He could shoot the ball, though. Kobe Bryant, his dad wasn't all that, that's why he's such a monster.
"You got LeBron, it's going to be hard for his kids because they are going to look at them like, 'You got to be just like your dad.' And after a while, that pressure starts sitting on you like, 'Why do I got to be just like him? What can't I just be me?' And then they are going to be like, 'Aw, you're soft, you're not that good.' Because the expectation is very, very high."
And that led to a pretty annoyed James coming back at him and basically putting out a cease-and-desist order for the elder Ball.
"Keep my kids' name out of your mouth, keep my family out of your mouth," James told ESPN on Tuesday, as the Cavaliers practiced on UCLA's campus, two days after a victory at the Lakers.
"This is dad to dad. It's a problem now."
It looks like the great basketball dad debate of 2017 has officially gotten underway.
