For the past few weeks, the Ball family has gradually become a huge face in the sporting world due in large part by the hand of Lavar Ball, father of his three sons.
His oldest, Lonzo, was eliminated last week in the NCAA playoffs as he led UCLA to the Sweet 16 against the Wildcats of Kentucky. Despite losing to UK, Lonzo is still highly considered as either a top two pick in the upcoming NBA draft for the skills that he showed throughout the season.
Due to Lonzo’s success in both high school, where he was a McDonalds All-American, and college, where he is more than likely going to be a Wooden Award finalist, we began to hear more from Lavar. A lot more.
Lavar has taken parenting a successful athlete to a whole new level. He is at the point now where he is almost a bigger talking point and well-known name than Lonzo is. This is due to the number of comments he has made over the month. Some of which include:
“I have the utmost confidence in what my boy is doing. He’s better than Steph Curry to me. Put Steph Curry on UCLA’s team right now and put my boy on Golden State and watch what happens.”
“Back in my heyday, I would kill Michael Jordan one-on-one.”
And my personal favorite:
“A billion dollars, it has to be there. That’s our number, a billion, straight out of the gate. And you don’t even have to give it to me all up front. Give us $100 mil over 10 years,” Lavar said when asked about how much a shoe deal would cost to get his sons to sign on.
With these comments, out there it has brought up the question as to whether Lavar is hurting his sons’ future careers in the NBA. And this isn’t just going for Lonzo, but for his other two sons LiAngelo and LaMelo who both could also make it to the NBA in the future.
While I have my own views on this, I thought it would be better to hear the thoughts from CMU athletes on the situation.
“I think to a point he is helping him,” guard Bryanna Adams said. “I think the pressure is good for [Lonzo] but to a certain point […] I think it is good to have that expectation to be great and the higher the expectations the higher the outcome.”
Along with that I also asked several athletes about whether they believe that there is a line for parents dealing with their kids who are athletes.
“There’s a thin line between proud and confident parents and cocky ones,” pole vaulter Nolan Ellis said.
“I think there is definitely a line,” quarterback Eystin Salum said. “Just as far as trying to control them and wanting them to do it. If it is not a kid’s choice, say when they are younger or even if it grows to when they are older, and it is not their choice to play and not their passion [then] a parent shouldn’t try to push or force their child to do that [so that they] can live vicariously through them.”
“I think that parents can play a big part in college athletes careers,” Adams said. “But to a certain point. I think it crosses a line when they are almost overriding their coaches.”
I believe that Lavar needs to stop trying to make his family the next Kardashian family of California, and just let his sons play the game. But what do I know. I am just a guy wishing I was as good at basketball as Lonzo.
