I regret to inform you all that LaVar Ball is at it again. We had nearly a full summer of reprieve of Lonzo Ball’s dad making ridiculous statements regarding his eldest son’s abilities and the upcoming Lakers season (he still found his way into headlines, good and bad, but at least wasn’t making proclamations about Lonzo’s greatness).
However, with the season set to begin in just a couple of weeks, LaVar just can’t help but talk about Lonzo and the Lakers and how great they’ll be.
Ball joined CBS Sports’ Flagrant Two podcast this week (as transcribed by CBS Sports’ Colin Ward-Henninger) to talk about, well, all the things LaVar likes to talk about, and that includes Lonzo. Ball, unsurprisingly, has high expectations for his son as a rookie and, despite the prevailing (and almost unanimous) feeling around the league being that the Lakers remain at least a year (and a big free agency summer) away from being anywhere near a playoff squad, LaVar thinks they’ll be there this year.
Not only does LaVar predict a Lakers playoff appearance, but he sees them accomplishing the impossible and toppling the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.
“I’ve got a vision for this year,” Ball said. “[The Lakers] are gonna win them 50 games, and they gonna get in them playoffs, and the story that’s gonna be for L.A. is Steve Kerr versus Luke Walton. That’s gonna be a hell of an L.A. story, because he don’t want that matchup. Luke know them tendencies, for that type of team. He knows ’em. And then there’s another big story that y’all gonna have: The bigmouth father LaVar said his son was better than Steph Curry — now let’s see!
“If they get them suckers in the Western Conference finals, the Lakers are gonna get them. And when they get to the Finals, my son ain’t gonna lose.”
Saying the Lakers will win 50 wins, beat the Warriors in the playoffs, and win the title may be the most outlandish thing LaVar has ever said, and that includes his boast about being able to take Michael Jordan 1-on-1. The Lakers’ projected win total in Las Vegas is 32.5 and even that might be generous.
The optimist’s view is Brook Lopez is still a very good offensive player, maybe Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle take big steps this season, and Lonzo Ball comes in and plays very well for a rookie. Even in that scenario, this isn’t a playoff team in the loaded West, but maybe sneaks in 35 wins. LaVar is going to LaVar, though, but hopefully Lakers fans know better by now than to ride with his predictions and set their expectations too high.
