LaVar Ball's furious rant gave NBA teams every reason to avoid drafting LaMelo
LaMelo Ball’s season in Australia ended due to injury, but the 18-year-old prospect did enough to supplant himself near the top of NBA Draft boards.
Yet, LaVar seemingly cannot get out of his son’s way.
For the past few months, the outlandish father of Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo has toned things down and mostly avoided drawing headlines in the media. It could have been an effort to ease the concerns of teams reluctant to draft LaMelo after witnessing the drama unfold between LaVar and the Lakers last year. The latest episode of Ball in the Family didn’t help that cause at all, though.
In a meeting with Big Baller Brand’s new manager Chris Rivers, LaVar was urged against being so outspoken because it could negatively affect the brand and his son’s draft stock. At first, LaVar was receptive to that idea. It just didn’t last long.
Later in the episode, LaMelo’s manager, Jermaine Jackson, spoke to LaVar with similar concerns from Australia. An NBA scout wanted to know what would happen if his team took LaMelo with the No. 1 pick and only played him 12 minutes a game off the bat. Would LaVar cause a scene in the press? Would it be another LaVar-Lakers-Walton situation?
While Jackson assured the scout that LaVar wouldn’t say anything, LaVar himself didn’t exactly appreciate that scenario. LaVar teed off in the phone call:
“Here’s the thing — as long as they do the right thing. Don’t draft my son and play him no 12 minutes and think I ain’t gonna say (expletive). Who’s ever been drafted No. 1 and plays 12 minutes? So don’t act like I ain’t gonna say nothing. I’m gonna go crazy as (LaMelo). So, if that’s what they wanna say, hey, do the right thing. My son gonna be at the team where he’s supposed to be at. But if you don’t have no confidence in him, don’t be drafting him no No. 1, and don’t be doing (expletive) with him. That’s a waste!”
He continued:
“And if somebody ask me something, I’m gonna do the exact same (expletive) I did last year. So, hey, whether you take him one or two, it’s on you. He’s gonna be that No. 1 pick, and like I said, all these other folks wanna be acting like till you get up there, and it’s they turn to pick, I guarantee you they ain’t passing up on your boy.”
A producer later asked LaVar if he thought those concerns from NBA officials were valid, and LaVar, again, didn’t agree.
LaVar said:
“No. The confidence that I have in my kids is the confidence that I have in them, and people have they own opinion of me on the outside because my confidence is too high for them. Because when it comes down to it, I’m not playing. And they’re not gonna bypass an opportunity of a person like Melo on the fact that he’s so young and so talented … I’m gonna be me.”
That’s not what NBA teams would have wanted to hear, especially if LaMelo starts his NBA career on the bench. This was an opportunity for LaVar to show a willingness to change for the benefit of LaMelo’s NBA future, but instead, he opted to double down on the behavior that had teams wary in the first place about LaMelo. Just recently, he wanted to pool all his sons’ money for Big Baller Brand. Now, this.
He’s giving teams a reason to be concerned.
You can watch the full episode here.