Lonzo Ball has already felt the impact of being LaVar Ball‘s son in the NBA. During his regular season debut against the Los Angeles Clippers, Patrick Beverley spent four quarters hounding the rookie guard, and after the game, he admitted that the patriarch of the Ball family gave him a little extra inspiration to welcome Lonzo to the league.
It’s not uncommon to see a veteran hound a rookie, especially one with as much hype as Ball, but it’s unusual for the reasoning behind this to be “his dad has made me want to go after him.” As Beverley said, this is something that the eldest Ball child will have to anticipate happening on a nightly basis.
John Wall agrees with this assessment. The All-Star guard, who will go up against Ball on Wednesday night in Los Angeles, appeared on the Wizards Tipoff podcast and talked about the way LaVar put a target on his son’s back.
“I think his dad put him in a situation where guys are going to target him,” Wall said, according to NBC Sports Washington. “Lonzo is one of those kids that is very talented. He’s been a good player for years, he just don’t say much. I think his dad does all the talking for him.
“He’s a great kid from what I’ve seen on the outside looking in,” Wall continued. “A lot of people in this league are going to take it personally. It’s not the son’s fault. He went back and had a better game (against Phoenix). That’s all he’s gotta do is go out there and play. He’s not gonna do any talking anyways.”
The dynamic with Lonzo and LaVar Ball is really weird in that the former seems perfectly content to let his play do all the talking, even if the latter is willing to do things like randomly show up on SportsCenter and say that his son’s rough NBA debut was actually fine while arguing with a disgusted Stephen A. Smith.
If Wall and Beverley’s comments are any indication, people around the league acknowledge that Lonzo isn’t at fault in this situation, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to feel the wrath of opposing players.
(Via NBA Sports Washington)
