On Wednesday morning, while still in NYC, LaVar Ball stopped by The Breakfast Club with sons LiAngelo and LaMelo to do a fairly comprehensive 40+ minute interview that hit on all the major recent Ball family-related topics, including: LiAngelo shoplifting in China, Donald Trump, the family's show on Facebook, Big Baller Brand, and (of course) the fact that two of his three sons are now getting set to go to Lithuania to make their pro debuts.
While there, LaVar also doubled (tripled? Quadrupled?) down on the claim that he could best Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one because, as he puts it, Jordan is "too slow" and "too weak." I'm not sure that's really a main takeaway from the interview, but it does kind of catch your ear when you're listening to it.
Not all that surprisingly, the sit-down served as yet another instance that shows charisma can skip a generation, as LaVar did about 99 percent of the talking despite a couple attempts from the hosts to get the younger guests involved. (They did eventually just threw in the towel on that.)
While any of the aforementioned topics are worthy of building a narrative around, we'll center in on LaVar's elaboration for why he refused to thank Trump for (in the President's words) saving LiAngelo from doing time in China after taking some Louis Vuitton sunglasses. LaVar said Trump tried to get a "thanks" from him because "I’m the big baller. That’s why he said, ‘Watch how I make this guy say thank you.'" He also confirmed he sent three pairs of BBB shoes (in red, white, and blue) to the White House to show the family's patriotism. On that same topic, LiAngelo said he thanked the President because UCLA told him to do it which, honestly, is not too much of a shock.
As for the rest of the interview, if you like LaVar Ball you'll probably like it. If you don't, you probably won't. It's not like you need too many more headlines to get a good feel. There are some interesting nuggets about how he too is going to Lithuania, how he won't feel like a failure if LiAngelo and LaMelo don't make it in the NBA—there's also a story about what he told his sons to do if one were to ever get thrown in a car by a kidnapper, which kind of comes out of left field but also (I think?) kind of makes some sense when it comes to parenting philosophy. No spoilers on any of those because then what would be the point?
