If you haven’t noticed as of yet, most people in the NBA (and the world) are not too fond of LaVar Ball.
Add Golden State Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr to that list.
Kerr said that Ball is “The Kardashian of the NBA” and “has zero credibility” in response to the recent comments of Ball criticizing Lakers head coach and former Warriors assistant Luke Walton, in which he said the players no longer wanted to play for him.
Here are Kerr’s comments to NBC Sports Bay Area:
“This is the world we live in now. I was thinking about ESPN. They laid off, I don’t know, 100 people. How many people did they lay off over the last year? More? Well over 100. Many of whom were really talented journalists covering the NBA. This is not an ESPN judgment, it’s a societal thing more than anything.
“Where we’re going is were going away from covering the game and getting close to sensationalized news. It’s not even news really, it’s just complete nonsense. But if you package that irrational nonsense with glitter and ribbon, people are going to watch. I’ve talked to people in the media this year. I say ‘Why do you guys have to cover that guy?’ They say they don’t want to, nobody wants to, but our bosses tell us we have to because of the ratings, because of the readership. Somewhere, I guess this is in Lithuania, LaVar Ball is laughing at all of us. People are eating out of his hands for no apparent reason, other than he’s become like the Kardashian of the NBA, and I guess that sells and that’s what’s true in politics, in entertainment and now in sports. It doesn’t matter if there is any substance involved with an issue. It’s just, can we make it really interesting, for no apparent reason. There’s nothing interesting about that story.
“Do you know how many parents of my players are sitting at home going ‘Why isn’t he playing my kid?’ And yet, we’re sticking a microphone in his face because it apparently gets ratings. I don’t know how cares, but people care. They must care, or ESPN wouldn’t be spending whatever they’re spending to send reporters to Lithuania when they are laying off people who are writing really substantial (stories), people like Ethan Strauss and Marc Stein are getting laid off. Again, this is not a condemnation of ESPN. It’ not. It’s a societal issue. It’s been going on for many, many years. And it’s invading the sports world now.”
Kerr is not holding any punches here and is pointing out the issues associated with the current media landscape and society in general in 2018 and using that to point out that ESPN is spending resources to cover the Ball family in Lithuania in lieu of employing and producing more substantial commentary on the game of basketball with well-respected writers who have recently been let go. He is right, but as long as people are responding to stories of this nature (the irony of me writing about this is not lost on me), these for-profits media companies are going to cover it to help their bottom lines.
I thought LaVar’s shelf life as a public figure would have expired by now, but as long as Lonzo is in the NBA and the media is on the hunt for some divisive comments to garner views, LaVar is likely here to stay for a while.
You can only hope that the overwhelming disdain for him by coaches and front office members around the league doesn’t affect his son’s ability to develop into the star point guard that he has the potential to be.
