LaVar Ball furiously yelled at his son and Charlotte Hornets young star LaMelo Ball for fighting an international player during tour
Advertisement
LaMelo Ball is a star in the making. He has all the ingredients for it. The flairy 21-year-old NBA player has made ample ripples in the league.
At 6’7″, he is quite tall for a point guard. But unlike your usual big points, Melo is fast, agile, and has a great jumper. His style of play is odd as it is satisfying. There is a certain gracefulness to the way he carries himself on the court.
Yet, even in his gracefulness, he is a fierce competitor. He likes winning a lot and it shows in the way he approaches the game.
In just two years in the league, the youngest Ball brother already has a terrific portfolio. He won the Rookie of the Year award in his debut season and also made it to the All-Rookie first team.
In his second year, he made his first All-Star appearance. It’s not that common for sophomore players to make the All-Star team.
But fame and success are nothing new to LaMelo. He was famous a long time before even stepping foot in the NBA.
LaVar erupted at LaMelo Ball for fighting an opponent player
Under their father LaVar Ball’s guidance and shenanigans, the Ball brothers became absurdly popular around the world.
People were as entertained by the talents of the three kids as they were by Papa Ball’s statements. LaVar’s big mouth garnered a lot of attention.
His kids had the national spotlight on them but it felt as if LaVar wanted to usurp that by giving bold and downright awful takes.
Take the time he claimed he could beat Michael Jordan in a one-on-one. Or the time when he ended up challenging Charles Barkley.
But we are not here to decrypt and analyze LaVar’s big mouth. Instead, we are here to look back at the time LaVar lashed out at LaMelo.
In 2018, Ball took his JBA team dubbed ‘JBA Team USA’ on an international tour. Confident of a sweep, LaVar was left horrified when the team lost their second game on the road.
LaMelo Ball squared up reeeeeaaaallll quick. #ThemHands are ready for the JBA’s overseas tour. 👊🏽 (via @redapples) pic.twitter.com/sd9AVFYrrl
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) October 1, 2018
After a missed layup, BC Dzukija’s player tapped Hornets point guard on the back of the head. LaMelo immediately responded with a slap worthy of being compared to Will Smith’s notorious Oscar slap-gate.
Melo was subsequently ejected from the game and BC Dzukija won the game. But this left LaVar fuming and he immediately went straight after his son.
LaVar: ” I tell you what, I blame this, this loss right here not on none of ya’ll. Cause ya’ll need to do your thing. I blame it on that raggedy f*ck right there (pointing at LaMelo). You changed the whole, the whole trip is f*cked up now.”
Do you think LaVar was too harsh on LaMelo for the loss?