“Right now they’re scared of me because I’m uncontrollable. If you can’t control one of us, you’re in trouble,” said LaVar Ball, as he and his two sons, LiAngelo and LaMelo, chatted with Charlemagne tha God, Angela Yee and DJ Envy. The outspoken father of Los Angeles Laker, Lonzo Ball, and two potential future NBA prospects, has helped make his basketball-centric family – and their company Big Baller Brand – one of the biggest stories of 2017. During their visit to The Breakfast Club, LaVar and his sons, spoke on playing basketball overseas, Donald Trump and Lonzo Ball’s rookie season.
On LiAngelo and LaMelo playing overseas: “A lot of people go overseas for different reasons, that’s why folks on the outside are thinking they aren’t going to do good over there or that the team isn’t going to like them. Wrong! But everyone that goes overseas, they go over there to make a living and to make some money. My boys ain’t going over there to make no living or no money. They are going over there for the passion of the game. They want to play. They want to play with some competition. That’s what they are going over there for.”
On LiAngelo’s arrest for shoplifting in China: “I don’t know why he did it. He don’t know why he did it. But it was done. I didn’t raise him like that. But I’m not going to jump on him like that. Everybody saying it happened in China, so there’s a different punishment. No. When you steal anywhere you in trouble. It’s wrong.”
On Trump’s response to UCLA’s incident in China: “It ain’t like he said ‘I’m in America. They have three Americans over there. Let me go over there and see what’s up.’ It wasn’t like he was over there like that. … It damn sure was for publicity, because we had already had boots on the ground.”
On why Trump wanted LaVar to apologize: “He wanted an apology from me because I’m Big Baller. That’s why. He was like ‘Watch how I make this guy say thank you.’ Stop it.”
On Lonzo being rated unfairly in the NBA: “He is the best. That’s why they have to pick at him. But you know what? How I raised the boys – them ratings don’t mean nothing. We are not about the ratings. We are about the wins.”
On LaVar beating Michael Jordan: “I will kill him one-on-one. If it’s one-on-one he can’t beat me. He’s too slow and too weak. I’m going to back you in. There’s no three in the key. 270 pounds going again 210? No, not one-on-one. But he got that name.”
The Ball Family’s entire interview with The Breakfast Club can be watched above.