Lavar Ball Wants His Sons to Play for Clippers After Lakers Cut Lonzo

Lonzo Ball’s name was surrounded by a lot of expectation and media buzz, especially because he was one of three brothers in the Ball family, which became one of the most famous basketball families in history. The Ball trio won the 2016 California state championship with Chino Hills High School, putting the young stars in the spotlight.

All three brothers are at different points in their careers. Lonzo has struggled with injuries throughout his career. Lonzo’s youngest brother, LaMelo Ball, signed a five-year contract extension with the Charlotte Hornets. Meanwhile, middle brother LiAngelo Ball has yet to make his NBA debut but has played in the G League for two seasons.

But their father LaVar Ball knows one thing: he doesn’t want any of his sons to play for the Lakers again.

“The thing is, I don’t want to go back to the Lakers in terms of how you guys treated Lonzo,” LaVar Ball said on Lonzo and LiAngelo’s podcast “The WAE Show” (reported by NBACentral_ “So why can I take the other two?”).

The father has a specific team in mind that his sons will be able to establish, and admitted that he maintains a good relationship with the team’s coach.

“I want everybody to play for the Clippers,” Ball said. “Steve Ballmer. He’s my guy. I like him, I like his style. That’s why I tell him, ‘My last name is Ball. His last name is Ballmer. We should play ‘Ball More.'”

Lonzo, the oldest of the group, was selected by the Lakers with the second overall pick in the first round of the 2017 NBA Draft after a year at UCLA. Staying close to home, it seemed the Lakers would be a perfect fit for the Chino Hills, California native.

However, shortly after joining the team, he began suffering numerous lower body injuries, mainly to his knees.

In his rookie season, Ball missed 15 games between January and February with a sprained medial collateral ligament. Earlier that season, he missed another six games with a sprained shoulder. In July 2018, the Lakers announced that the NBA All-Rookie team member would undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair a torn meniscus.

He returned for his sophomore season, but suffered a third-degree ankle sprain in January that ended his season prematurely.

In 2019, the Lakers traded Ball to the New Orleans Pelicans for nine-time NBA All-Star Anthony Davis. After leaving Los Angeles, Ball struggled with multiple injuries and missed the past two seasons.

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