LaVar Ball might be hanging out in Lithuania right now, about 6,000 miles away from Los Angeles, but over the weekend, he still managed to kick up dust in L.A. with some comments he made about Lakers head coach Luke Walton. When ESPN’s Jeff Goodman asked LaVar—who is currently helping his two sons LiAngelo and LaMelo get adjusted to life in Lithuania—his thoughts on the Lakers’ recent 9-game losing streak, LaVar responded by taking a shot at Walton.
"You can see they’re not playing for Luke no more," LaVar sad. "Luke doesn’t have control of the team no more. They don’t want to play for him."
Both LaVar’s oldest son Lonzo and Walton himself downplayed the comments LaVar made prior to the Lakers’ game against the Hawks on Sunday night. Lonzo said his dad "is going to say what he wants to say" while also pointing out that he can’t "decide who coaches." Walton, meanwhile, said he feels "very secure in my job status right now" while pointing out that he feels like the Lakers are "100 percent behind and supporting what we’re doing."
Whether the Lakers were inspired by what LaVar said about Walton or not, they came to play against the Hawks. After dropping 9 games in a row, they avoided a 10th straight loss by trouncing Atlanta 132-112 behind a solid performance from Lonzo, who scored 13 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out 6 assists. And after the game, Walton went as far as to joke about the comments LaVar had made about him in the days leading up to the Lakers’ latest game.
Walton was asked about a decision he made to sub Lonzo out of the game early in the first quarter. He responded by saying he did it because LaVar "was taking sh*t."
Walton paused after what he said about LaVar before quickly saying that he was just joking. But we have to believe that Walton felt good about finally getting back on the winning track for the first time in a couple weeks.
As for LaVar, this isn’t the first time he’s made a controversial comment about the Lakers since Lonzo joined the team, and it won’t be the last. So far this season, he has called the Lakers out for being "soft" because of their coaching staff and criticized the Lakers’ coaches for not giving Lonzo enough playing time. In December, he said they had a "raggedy" record due in large part to Walton’s decision to sit Lonzo out during the fourth quarter at times this season.
The good news is that the Lakers clearly haven’t let any of the outside noise concerning LaVar affect them too much. But the bad news is they’re obviously going to have to continue to deal with LaVar and the distractions he brings for the foreseeable future.
