LaVar Ball Wasn’t Impressed By Lonzo’s Triple Double Because Only ‘Wins Matter’

After a tough start to his Lakers career in his first game in the Las Vegas Summer League, Lonzo Ball bounced back with an impressive triple-double in his second game. His 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists on Saturday night — in front of a sellout crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center, no less — was the first triple-double in Vegas Summer League history (at least dating to 2008 when full stats starting being kept).

Those that made their jokes after his terrible first game were quieted by his performance on Saturday as everyone was reminded how silly it is to make judgements off of one exhibition game — this is where I note that people shouldn’t go too far in the other direction based off of Saturday night.

The Lakers’ faithful that watched Ball’s showing were enthralled by his triple-double, and one would expect this to be the time for a victory lap from LaVar Ball, the man that has never been afraid to tout his son’s greatness. However, after the game LaVar was, surprisingly, not in the mood to gas up his son, and instead chose to bring they hype down a notch by saying stats don’t matter for point guards, only wins matter.

It’s interesting to see this side of LaVar, the basketball dad, after months of nothing but hype for Lonzo coming out of his mouth. His comment that “point guards ain’t judged on stats, they’re judged on victories,” is interesting, especially considering the Lakers likely won’t win much this coming season.

We’ll have to see how LaVar handles this season based off of his “wins only matter” mantra in a year when L.A. will almost assuredly be a high lottery team again. That said, it’s something of a refreshing change of pace to hear LaVar pumping the brakes on the Lonzo hype train.