Here’s a fun thought-experiment. Take a celebrity who you despise on a deep, cellular level. Now, imagine that they don’t have any money or fame. What would their life be like? It’s a helpful exercise in restoring sanity, especially when you’re dealing with people like Donald Trump, LaVar Ball, and Mark Cuban on a regular basis.
The answer, of course, is basement-dwelling internet trolls. Money and fame simply enable them to do their trolling on a macro level. And there’s nothing Mavs owner Mark Cuban loves more than trolling Donald Trump.
After the recent international incident during which the Ball family threatened to undermine U.S.-China relations, Trump couldn’t help but let the fallout spread to social media where he accused LiAngelo and his UCLA teammates of ingratitude for his role in ensuring their safe return to America.
Cubes, of course, took the opportunity to fire shot at Trump, and he doubled down on his idea that LaVar should show his appreciation to Trump by gifting him Big Baller Brand’s notoriously-overpriced sneakers.
“I think he should send him an unlimited supply of Big Baller Brand shoes,” Cuban said. “That’s really what this is all about. Donald Trump just wants some free shoes. You know he’s not gonna pay for that. That’s all it is. On the real, they are so much alike because Donald will say what he needs to, in P.R., in the mindset, to be talked about. So does LaVar. Donald doesn’t apologize for anything. Neither does LaVar. LaVar knows if he apologizes, there will be nothing to talk about. If he doesn’t, he’ll be in the news all day every day. It’s better for Big Baller Brand. It’s straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. Congratulations, LaVar.”
Overall, it’s a fairly apt characterization. And understanding precisely how Trump operates will be instrumental for Cubes if he’s serious about challenging him for the presidency in 2020, which by most accounts, he is, given that he’s reportedly enlisted the help of former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon.
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see how long Ball and Trump are willing to drag this whole thing out and whether any olive branches in the form of absurdly-overpriced sneakers might be forthcoming.
