Two of the country’s loudest mouths aren’t quieting down anytime soon.
LaVar Ball drew (more) headlines Friday by downplaying the role that President Donald Trump played in helping extract his son, LiAngelo Ball, and two other UCLA men’s basketball teammates from a shoplifting incident in China.
Well, Trump caught wind of Ball’s comments Sunday, and needless to say, he wasn’t happy.
Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017
LiAngelo and his teammates were arrested last Tuesday for allegedly shoplifting near the UCLA team’s hotel in China, and there were rumors they could spend up to 10 years in prison. Yet Trump intervened, personally asking Chinese president Xi Jinping to help resolve the case.
After the players were released, Trump insisted they should thank him — which they did in Wednesday in recalcitrant statements at a team press conference. (To clarify: The players never actually went to jail, instead staying in a luxury hotel in China while the case was resolved.)
Ball and his teammates were suspended indefinitely, and that appeared to be the end of the controversy — until LaVar insisted Friday that he wasn’t ready to give Trump full credit for his son’s release.
“What was he over there for?” Ball said of Trump. “Don’t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out.”
We’re sure LaVar will have a response for the POTUS, while the rest of the world moves on to more important matters.
