LaVar renews feud with Luke Walton: Lakers don't want to play for him
LaVar Ball is letting loose from Lithuania on the leader of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Accompanying his two youngest sons on the outsets of their professional basketball careers in the eastern European nation, the forthright father is still keeping tabs on eldest offspring Lonzo Ball, who remains in the United States with the Lakers. According to the 50-year-old dad, however, his overseas monitoring of the team has led him to believe that coach Luke Walton has lost control of the last-place side, something that isn't sitting well with him.
"You can see they're not playing for Luke no more," Lavar told ESPN's Jeff Goodman. "Luke doesn't have control of the team no more. They don't want to play for him."
Related: Lakers asked LaVar to tone down public criticism of Walton
Los Angeles is mired in a nine-game losing streak that began Dec. 22 with a 113-106 loss to the Golden State Warriors. They were also without Lonzo, their starting point guard, for six of those losses due to a sprained shoulder. Though Lonzo did return Friday against the Charlotte Hornets, the team still fell short 108-94, and the Big Baller Brand founder blames the team's apparent lack of cohesion on the 37-year-old Walton's youth and inexperience behind the bench.
"That's a good team," he said. "Nobody wants to play for him. I can see it. No high five's when they come out of the game. People don't know why they're in the game. He's too young. He's too young. ... He ain't connecting with them anymore.
"You can look at every player, he's not connecting with not one player."
At 23.6 years of age, the Lakers are on average the youngest team in the Association, just edging out the Phoenix Suns. The club is expected to have a heavy presence in the upcoming offseason with millions of dollars of potential cap room, but Lavar doesn't believe signing a megastar with Walton at the helm would be in the best interests of the organization.
"Even if you bring in a LeBron (James) or a (Paul) George, he can't coach them guys," he said. "What is he gonna tell them? He's too young. He has no control."