LaVar Ball rips Anthony Davis, says Luke Walton turned Lonzo 'into a loser'
The Los Angeles Lakers are front and center in the NBA spotlight with reports swirling over their interest in a trade for Anthony Davis.
LaVar Ball is taking full advantage.
With the limelight glowing, new life has filled the LaVar hype machine, and he’s using the opportunity to rip the Lakers and their power players as Lonzo Ball is repeatedly mentioned in reported trade proposals.
LaVar rips Magic Johnson, Luke Walton
Magic Johnson is in LaVar’s crosshairs in a recent interview with the “Doug & Wolf” show on Arizona’s 98.7 FM, but head coach Luke Walton takes the brunt of his ire for turning Lonzo “into a loser.”
“Luke Walton was the worst coach he ever had,” LaVar told Doug & Wolf. “It was Magic [Johnson] the one who said he was going to be the dang face of the franchise. But Magic ain’t doing no coaching. And the only person to kill Lonzo is the coach pulling him out and not having no confidence in him.
“Everyone who’s had confidence in Lonzo just let him go and let him win. That’s what he does. He wins. Luke Walton turned him into a loser. A loser’s mentality is like, ‘Oh, he’s young, he’ll get it.’ Instead of going out there and letting him do what he does.”
LaVar trying to speak Walton out of existence
Notice how LaVar mentions Walton in the past tense while Walton is most certainly still Ball’s head coach. LaVar often talks about the power of speaking things into existence. That appears to be his strategy here as he’s trying to push a deal to get Lonzo to the Phoenix Suns.
LaVar seems resigned that Lonzo and the Lakers are done. He also seems to believe that his pipe dream of Lonzo playing in the NBA with his brothers LaMelo and LiAngelo is feasible, despite NBA teams expressing zero interest in LiAngelo. And he’s planning on that happening in Phoenix, even though the situation is completely out of his and Lonzo’s control.
“I gave the Lakers the first right of refusal to get all three of the Ball boys. They didn’t want that. I’m telling you. My boys are going to take over the NBA. They didn’t use Lonzo the right way. Put him in a corner.
“He makes everybody better. That’s why the Lakers look so raggedy right now. You can’t put him in the corner. He can’t make nobody better.”
Anthony Davis not safe from LaVar
LaVar also used the opportunity to take a shot at Davis, whose trade demand has catalyzed the talk of shipping Lonzo out of Los Angeles.
“AD is good. But he’s not a winner. How many playoff games has he won? He’s been in the league a long time, there’s a difference between players and winners.”
The trade talk between the Lakers and Pelicans is a constantly evolving storyline that won’t be played out until a deal is done or Thursday’s NBA trade deadline passes. If nothing is consummated by then, the story will just be put on pause until the offseason when talks will heat up again.
Until Lonzo’s situation is resolved, expect LaVar to continue pushing his agenda. Right now, that agenda appears to be to inflict as much damage as possible on the relationship between the Lakers and the Balls.
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