BROOKLYN, NY - JUNE 22: LaVar Ball, LaMelo Ball and LiAngelo Ball pose for a portrait with Lonzo Ball after being drafted number two overall to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2017 NBA Draft on June 22, 2017 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, NY - JUNE 22: LaVar Ball, LaMelo Ball and LiAngelo Ball pose for a portrait with Lonzo Ball after being drafted number two overall to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2017 NBA Draft on June 22, 2017 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images)
Lonzo Ball recently sat down with Michael Porter Jr. for an episode of the ‘Curious Mike’ podcast, where the former second overall pick from the 2017 NBA draft opened up about his father, their relationship, and his role in Lonzo’s career.
Initially, Lonzo Ball got real about how LaVar Ball was like when he and his brothers were growing up.
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, bro’s been yelling, he’s been talking, cussing his whole life. I mean, that’s how I’ve known him. You know what I’m saying? So for us, what y’all see on TV is like no different from what we were seeing at home. So it’s like to us it’s not a shock or anything.”
“But sometimes, like, when he first got on the scene, people were like, “What the f–k?” Like, yeah, no way he’s talking like this. Like he was just like that since I’ve been born. So I know my dad would be the same my whole life,” Ball said.
“Growing up was really just a simple life, bro. Like where I’m from, Chino Hills, there was not much to do. Like it’s a small town really like a farm a farm, you know? Pretty much a lot of land you can drive. You see cows and s–t; it smelled like cow manure when I was a kid.”
“It’s got a lot better now though. But um really, bro, just playing outside, playing in the backyard, playing football on the street. All the neighborhood kids. I was actually talking with Demo the other day, like kids don’t play in the street no more.”
“I feel like driving down the street. I don’t see kids out there. But my whole childhood, I was outside. So I was blessed to have my brothers with me, obviously, but my dad also trained like f–king, 10-15 kids, bro.”
“So we always had runs and s–t going on every day. Uh, my mom was feeding everybody chili and spaghetti. So like it was like a backyard again thing type thing growing up,” Ball said as he recalled growing up with LaVar Ball in the house.
Porter Jr. then asked if LaVar Ball’s pressure made him and his brothers used to high-intensity moments or if there were moments in his life where he wanted his father to calm down and not get as riled up as he tends to.
“I feel like even in life, like it’s always going to be good and bad. You know what I’m saying? Like everything’s going to have pros and cons. Always going to be plus and minus. That’s just the balance of life,” Ball said.
“I feel like, you know, you can’t really fall into, you know, who hates you and who doesn’t, who rocks with you. I think that you got to just be true to yourself. And from my point of view, that’s what he’s been. And, you know, I got to respect him for that.”
“As I said, he hasn’t changed since I’ve known him. He’s been talking his s–t. He’s been, you know, putting his best foot forward, you know, since I came into the world, and he’s not done anything different other than that.”
“So for me it was like I never thought of him needing to ‘be quiet or shut up’ as the, you know, writers would like to say. Because it was like, ‘ That’s my pops and the way I was raised, as you know, I’m going to respect my father, respect my elders type s–t. That’s how we was raised in my family.”
“So it was like off rip I’m not even I wasn’t even taught to think like that. You know what I’m saying? So like that didn’t even get into my bubble until I got to the league and people started saying that, and obviously, you know, there’s narratives that people want to run with to, you know, pump the sport.”
“But it’s at the end of the day, it’s a business. So, as I’m getting older, I’m seeing, you know, kind of like life for what it is. And, you know, I’m cool with it. You know, I have no regrets. Um, the way my pops was, you know, I’m thankful for how he was, honestly. I got to where I was because of him. So, yeah, I got nothing but love for him,” Ball further added.
Subsequently, Porter Jr. recalled how actively LaVar Ball was advocating for the Lakers to draft Lonzo Ball during the 2017 NBA Draft. Lonzo confirmed that LaVar Ball pretty much pressured the Lakers’ front office into drafting him second overall in 2017.
“I think he had a huge influence on it, bro. To be honest, I think like he damn near made it to where they had to pick me, really, to a point. Yeah. I really do feel like that.”
LaVar Ball essentially began a national TV campaign before the 2017 NBA Draft, where he declared on several occasions that his son, Lonzo Ball, would only work out and play for the Lakers, his hometown team. He went as far as to reject working out with the Celtics, who had the number one overall pick that year.
Furthermore, Ball also opened up about coming out of his father’s shadow to become his own man.
“I mean, s–t, I was torn, bro, because one, yeah, you living a grown man life, but at the end of the day, you’re only 19 years old. You feel me? And the way I was raised was like a blessing and a curse, if you will, cuz like I never really broke away from my pops.”
“Like I always looked at him as a leader of the house, you feel me? So I always looked up to him. I was told to look after my brothers. So that’s how the chain kind of went.”
“So I felt like when I had gotten drafted, I was just doing that, you know, listening to my pops, you know, doing this and that, and that’s what it was. But if I can go back, I would obviously do it differently.”
“I would actually get an agent, be in the meetings myself, you know, do what I want to do,” Lonzo Ball said.
“But to answer your question, it was like I didn’t like the shoes. I addressed that I didn’t like the shoes, but then we would get into an argument, and it would be like, damn, like if you don’t wear the shoes, then like you going against the family type s–t.”
“Yeah, bro. It was a f–ked up place to be in, honestly, to be honest with you. But I really didn’t break away from my pops until, like, and I don’t say I don’t want to say break away because I still f–k with my dad obviously, but like, you know, get from under his umbrella until I went to New Orleans,” Ball further added.
“Bro, between New Orleans and having Zoe, like those two things that catapulted me into, you know, my next phase of life, I feel like. And finally, that’s where I felt like I was my own man. Like I didn’t, I didn’t look to him for help or nothing like that. You feel me?”
“So that’s when I looked at myself like, okay, I’m on my own, too. And you know, even if we fight or whatever, we’re going to come back, you know, at the end, and it’s always going to be love. And that’s just how we rocked it, man.”
Lonzo Ball recalled his struggles wearing his family brand shoes and how he had to use multiple pairs just to get through a single college game.
“It was like the shoe wasn’t ready to be it, wasn’t a basketball shoe, bro. Like, it wasn’t ready to be used. So I tried to play in it, but like they would like rip and pop out like every every quarter.”
“So, like I had Demo had like backup shoes in his backpack that he would give me, you know, right over the bench and s–t if they would blow out and s–t like that. I’m like, ‘I can’t, I can’t play like this, bro.’ Yeah. And right when I changed my shoes, then I started playing great again. You feel me?”
“And then, yeah, I had like great games, and I used all the different shoes. And then that’s when I was like, ‘Oh, where’s he going to go? Is he going to go Nike, Adidas, Under Armour? What’s gonna happen?’ type s–t.”
“And then, BBB stayed that route, and then that was it, man. But yeah, that’s how that went,” Ball concluded on his father.
LaVar Ball reportedly rejected deals from several companies like Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour that would have earned Ball $10 million over five years while entering the NBA as a rookie.
But LaVar Ball prioritized the family brand, even today, over securing his son’s career, and now we’re watching Lonzo Ball risk not having an NBA contract at age 28.
While Lonzo Ball has been able to forgive his father for arguably derailing his career, he remains one of the biggest what-ifs in league history if he managed to play at his full potential without an injury-riddled NBA career.