In the past few months, people have been witness to quite the craziness. Such is epitomized in the case with Lavar Ball.
For those who don’t know of the legend, Lavar Ball is the father of Lonzo Ball. Lonzo Ball was a freshman star basketball player at UCLA and has declared for NBA Draft already. Lonzo is projected to be a lottery pick in the NBA Draft.
Lavar Ball has been a vocal supporter not only of Lonzo, but also of his other sons. This is, of course, not much of a surprise for anyone. However, Lavar has begun making statements that have associated himself with incredible craziness.
Lavar has claimed that he could defeat Michael Jordan and Charles Basketball in 1-on-1 games in basketball. Recently, Lavar continued his narrative on ESPN’s First Take, telling Stephen A Smith things like Lonzo would win the NCAA Championship for UCLA, Lonzo was better than Steph Curry, and Lonzo would be the next Magic Johnson. Unfortunately, not many people have taken his comments very well, especially with Lonzo losing to Kentucky a few days ago. Lavar has become the laughing stock of the internet, and it will only get worse now.
Nobody doubts that Lonzo Ball is a very good basketball player. However, the outlandish comments from his outspoken father may cost him. Lavar has even said that his sons will rake in billion dollar deals simply from shoe sponsorships. Of course, with an average performance in the past elite eight, those following Lonzo may further be unimpressed by him as a prospect for the NBA.
Thus, this begs the question of whether Lonzo Ball’s publicity will serve him beneficially or detrimentally. Obviously the fact that many people who weren’t going to know Ball’s name simply from basketball now know him well. Lavar has even said that “negativity sells.” With that in mind, is the negative publicity that Lavar has brought going to bode well for Lonzo? The media continually provides Lavar with exclusive coverage, and the fact that other athletes have responded continuously to his outrageous comments only make his name more known.
Time will be able to tell just how “primetime” Lonzo Ball will be for the NBA. The future seems bright for him, and one can only hope that his amazing basketball skills will be able to overcome all the ridiculousness that has come out of the mouth of Lavar Ball throughout the past few months.
