We’ll be hearing a lot about Lavar Ball, the father of UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball, in the months leading up to the NBA Draft.
After spending the college basketball season making outlandish comments about his son, Lavar Ball has executives concerned about the potential for distraction if he is around their team. Lonzo will face questions about it until Lavar shuts up, which is to say, he will always face questions about it, from teams and media alike.
When asked a question about his father by Shams Charanbia of The Vertical, Ball had an answer at the ready.
“I’ll give the same answer to everyone: My dad is going to be my dad, he’s not going to change, but what I do on the court has nothing to do with what he says,” Ball told The Vertical. “He’s off the court and doesn’t impact how I approach the court. It doesn’t affect me in any type of way. I play the same way every game.”
This is probably the right way to go about things. As long as Ball makes clear his dad won’t have an outsize role in his life once he’s in the league and shows his ego isn’t inflated as a result, he’ll be fine. There isn’t much that could cause him to fall out of the top-two in the draft. And, assuming he’s telling the truth, it’s tough to imagine his dad having a real impact on his career.
His dad will undoubtedly be a distraction of some degree, but Ball’s talent is simply too good to pass up. If Ball simply treats him like the crazy uncle at Thanksgiving, he’ll be fine.