LaVar Ball sure knows how to stir the pot, and stir it he did Thursday when he said his son, Lonzo, and the UCLA Bruins lost their Sweet 16 game against the Kentucky Wildcats because they had too many “white guys” on the court whose “foot speed is too slow.”
Some saw the comment as racist, while others chalked it up to LaVar being LaVar. Either way, the outspoken basketball dad (kind of) clarified Friday his comments during an appearance on CBS Sports Radio Network’s “Tiki and Tierney.”
“I’m just stating the facts,” Ball said. “Here’s the thing. People can keep thinking that I blame the white guys. No, no, that’s not — every time we lose, I only blame one person, and that’s my son. … But I said before — prove me wrong — that you can’t win nowadays with three white guys on the floor at the same time.
“It’s not saying I don’t like white people and white people can’t win and nothing like that. I’m just saying, when you have more athleticism on there, it’s kind of hard when you don’t have the foot speed.”
OK. So there’s that. But what about the idea Ball is coming off as racist with his controversial comments?
“I can’t be racist. Like I said, some people just take it the wrong way, and that’s OK, because that’s how this media and this stuff (works), they try to twist it around, because it’s more interesting when they say, ‘LaVar is racist,’ ” Ball said Friday. “Like I said, I stated my opinion, of what I thought, in the sense the foot speed is just too slow to catch up with all the athleticism on the court.”
Something tells me LaVar probably thinks he could beat Larry Bird 1-on-1.
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
