LaVar Ball Blasts Lakers’ Training Staff For Causing Lonzo Ball’s Injuries

LaVar Ball wasn’t going to stay out of the headlines for long.

The loud-mouthed father of Los Angeles Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball has been relatively quiet of late, aside from a sizzling take on Kawhi Leonard. But LaVar was at it again in an interview with HoopsHype when he blasted Gunnar Peterson, blaming the Lakers trainer’s techniques for Lonzo’s injury-plagued rookie season.

The following quotes come with a NSFW warning for explicit language.

“If you’re going to be doing those (workouts with) rubber-bands like that dude Gunnar has him doing, that (is) bullshit training. That’s what I call it,” Ball said. “Shit, he wasn’t like that when I brought him over there. When he first came (to the Lakers), he never got hurt. He was never hurt.

“Now, you’ve got these guys talking about, ‘Well, I’ve got this special workout for Lonzo…’ No! Lonzo’s gotta lift that pig iron, that real iron, and he’s gotta run some hills. That’s stuff they don’t have him doing.”

Lonzo missed 32 games in his rookie season, but still ranked 12th in minutes played by rookies. The UCLA product still had a solid rookie season for the Lakers. Lonzo averaged 10.2 points, 7.2 assists and 6.9 rebounds per game and was a second-team choice for the NBA’s All-Rookie Team.