One of the concerns with the Los Angeles Lakers drafting point guard Lonzo Ball with the second overall pick was having to deal with his outspoken father, LaVar Ball.
LaVar has been at the forefront of Lonzo’s career since he was a star at Chino Hills high school, causing controversy with some of his statements and actions along the way. Before Lonzo’s rookie season, however, LaVar insisted that he would back off.
That has not been the case thus far, as LaVar has made news recently with his criticisms of the way Luke Walton and the Lakers coaching staff is handling the young point guard.
This led to Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and general amanager Rob Pelinka to recently meet with LaVar and ask him to tone down his criticisms, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN:
The Los Angeles Lakers’ front office recently had a meeting with LaVar Ball, the outspoken father of rookie point guard Lonzo Ball, asking him to tone down some of his public criticisms of head coach Luke Walton and help create a more positive atmosphere around his son, sources told ESPN.
The meeting, which took place within the past few weeks, was called by Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka.
Many hoped this wouldn’t be necessary, but the Lakers are doing the right thing in trying to end this before it gets any worse than it already is. The spotlight on Lonzo is brighter than arguably any rookie has ever had to deal with and LaVar speaking negatively only makes things worse.
Lonzo will never be afforded normal expectations for a rookie, but LaVar can’t actively makes things tougher on his son. Both sides ultimately want what’s best for Lonzo and it seems like they are working together to ensure that happens.
It should be noted that the reported meeting date of Nov. 29 was prior to LaVar giving yet another interview in which he was critical of Walton.
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