In a news development that many, many people undoubtedly saw coming, overbearing and polarizing sports dad LaVar Ball already seems to have some issues with Lonzo's playing time with the Los Angeles Lakers.
It took about three weeks into his pro career for LaVar to speak publicly on this subject, which is about two weeks longer than most would have guessed, but his take on the matter was given to Bleacher Report after the Lakers' 124-112 victory over the Nets that went down this past Friday night.
"You've got to shoot the ball," LaVar told BR. "You're not going to make it if you don't take it." On that particular night, Lonzo was 3-15 from the field (including 0-3 from three-point range) those 15 shots he took represented the second most he's put up in a single contest in his over-covered 10-game career. He ended the night with six points.
In addition to thinking Lonzo should jack up more shots, LaVar also seemed to take issue with the amount of time his rookie son is getting on the floor, particularly in the game's final quarter. "Let him play the whole fourth quarter and bet you'll always win. He'll get into a better flow," he added. "The in and out, sitting out six to 10 minutes? He's not going to take no shots because he's not in the flow. He don't want to hurt the team by shooting."
In an attempt to be fair here, thinking your kid should play more is something we'd guess just about every sports parent believes. It's just that A.) Most of them wouldn't say it out loud where the coach(es) could hear and B.) Most don't have a microphone waving in their face 24/7. Still though, this is how it starts. Also note that Lonzo is currently second amongst rookies (behind Ben Simmons) in minutes per game with 33.0.
The BR piece (which is about Lonzo getting comfortable, taking more shots, and improving upon his sub-30 percent field goal percentage) also includes takes from his Lakers teammates, opposing coaches, and his own coach.
