LaVar Ball is already making NBA life hard for Lonzo Ball
Former UCLA star Lonzo Ball was selected by his hometown Los Angeles Lakers with the second overall pick of Thursday's NBA Draft. Lonzo's father, LaVar Ball, has been a media figure of Trumpian omnipresence since he started making bombastic comments right around March Madness.
LaVar is ostensibly being such a blowhard to promote his family's Big Baller Brand, hoping to facilitate sales of sneakers and apparel. But LaVar's constant thirst for attention has made some wonder if it will make NBA life harder for Lonzo as he enters the world's top basketball league.
Now we have an answer. Within minutes of Lonzo becoming a pro, we learned unequivocally that, yes, NBA players will target the Lakers rookie out of resentment for his father.
In other words: If Lonzo gets dunked on extra viciously this season, he should blame his dad.
ESPN interviewed LaVar for what felt like the 100th time Thursday night right after the Lakers picked Lonzo. LaVar was his typically, um, outspoken self.
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Right after that interview, Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers posted this tweet in apparent reference to Lavar.
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Six minutes later came a reply from Joel Embiid, Simmons' Philadelphia teammate. Did Embiid tell Simmons to lay off the rookie? Did he welcome Lonzo into the NBA fraternity with some kind words?
Not exactly. Instead, Embiid asked Simmons to dunk on Lonzo "so hard that his daddy runs on the court to save him."
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It seems NBA fans aren't the only ones getting a little tired of LaVar's act. Good luck, Lonzo!
Sam Laird is Mashable's Senior Sports Reporter. He covers the wide, weird world of sports from all angles -- as well as occasional other topics -- from Mashable's San Francisco bureau. Before joining Mashable in November 2011, his freelance work appeared in publications including the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Slam, and East Bay Express. Sam is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and basketball and burritos take up most of his spare time. Follow him on Twitter @samcmlaird.
