The growing tension between LaVar Ball and the Los Angeles Lakers may have reached a boiling point. Ball’s antics have become a dark cloud looming over the Lakers as they have dropped nine of their last 13 games.
One Eastern Conference executive believes that Lavar’s mouth is chewing off more than what his son Lonzo Ball can handle.
“The dad has verbally fought all his fights for him,” the executive told Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report. “The kid is in the habit of retreating and saying, ‘OK, I guess he’s got this.’ The parent is trying to out-do the kid. You could argue that LaVar is a bigger name than Lonzo. There’s a tragedy in that, and we’re watching it unfold.”
Some executives suggest that the presence of LaVar in the media has divided the Lakers locker room as “players have become upset that Lonzo can’t stand up to his father.”
LaVar’s negative impact on the team has even shown itself among NBA coaches as Steve Kerr and Rick Carlisle have come to the defense of Lakers coach Luke Walton after LaVar suggested that he has lost the locker room in the midst of the Lakers season-long nine-game losing streak.
Now, with LaVar focused on doing the bidding of his other sons, LiAngelo and LaMelo, in Lithuania, the Lakers have won their last four games, with Lonzo recording double-doubles in three of those matchups.
The Lakers will look to extend their win streak to five as they face the Grizzlies in Memphis on Monday night.
