Now that LaMelo Ball and Lonzo Ball are off to promising NBA careers, we can take a much more jovial approach toward the bombastic proclamations of their outspoken father, LaVar Ball.
While Lonzo has established himself as an integral part of one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams with the Chicago Bulls, LaMelo has continued his trajectory toward NBA superstardom as the point guard of the Charlotte Hornets. There are plenty of mentor figures surrounding him in Charlotte — his veteran teammates, coach James Borrego, TV broadcaster and former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry — but the most prominent is Hornets owner Michael Jordan, widely considered to be the greatest basketball player of all time.
With Jordan at his disposal, you’d think LaMelo would constantly be picking his brain for ways to improve his game. According to LaVar, however, that’s not the case.
“How often does [LaMelo] seek out advice from Michael Jordan? Never!” LaVar said. “What advice he gonna give him? You tell me what advice he’s gonna give him. … Do you ever have milk in your refrigerator, man? When the damn thing expires, I hope you throw it away. When was the last time [Jordan] won a championship? The game has changed. What’s he gonna tell him?”
You can listen to the audio in the second slide of this Instagram post from Hoops View.
Oh, LaVar. The logic doesn’t hold up even under a modicum of scrutiny, but at this point we all know that LaVar Ball has a penchant for making controversial and unsupportable statements. He already targeted MJ once, infamously saying that he could beat him in a game of one-on-one.
It’s hard to believe that LaMelo and MJ have never had a conversation about basketball, but either way, the second-year guard is boasting phenomenal numbers. He’s increased his averages across the board, putting up 20 points, 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game, while improving his 3-point shooting from 35 percent as a rookie to 39 percent this season on two more attempts per game.
The Hornets have been ravaged by COVID recently, missing seven players — including LaMelo — for Friday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings. Even with the limited roster, they’ve managed to stay above .500 and are currently in play-in position. Imagine how good they’ll be when LaMelo eventually decides to ask Michael Jordan for some advice.
