Mike Larson, for the most part, stays out of the public eye. The same can’t be said of LaVar Ball, and Larson — father of NASCAR phenom Kyle Larson — isn’t crazy about the controversial basketball dad’s antics.
“I was watching this video with (Ball) and I was thinking, ‘This guy is over the top,’ ” Mike Larson told USA TODAY’s Brant James. “Kyle would get mad at me, and I would understand. If I was (Ball’s) kids, I would be like, ‘Shut up.’ …
“I think Dad thinks he’s taking pressure off those kids by it being directed at him, and I think he’s totally wrong.”
Mike Larson supported his son through the formative years of his racing career and has watched Kyle develop into the most dynamic young driver in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Along the way, he insisted, he never wanted his son to feel that his “dad is driving me nuts.”
Yet Larson, a Sacramento Kings fan, makes a very clear distinction between LaVar Ball, the outspoken father, and Lonzo Ball, the UCLA guard expected to be a high pick in the 2017 NBA draft.
“I hope the Kings draft Lonzo Ball, but, God, I would hate for them to be stuck (with) his dad, because we just got rid of DeMarcus Cousins,” Larson said, via USA TODAY. “DeMarcus Cousins is one of the best players in the league, but by his rookie year, I was like, ‘They’ve got to get him out of here. He’s a cancer.’
“I would think (the Ball’s) dad is like a cancer, too.”
Thumbnail photo via Shanna Lockwood/USA TODAY Sports Images
