NBA Rumors: Trading Lonzo Ball Is The ‘Worst Move’ Lakers Could Make, Says LaVar Ball
Despite the Los Angeles Lakers’ recovery from a slow start — and their insistence that they have no immediate plans of trading point guard Lonzo Ball or anyone else in their young core of players, the rumors are still swirling. And as far as his father, LaVar Ball, is concerned, the Lakers would truly be ill-advised to trade Lonzo to another team — despite his well-documented struggles as one of the NBA’s youngest starting point guards.
According to USA Today’s Lonzo Wire, LaVar Ball appeared earlier this week on ESPN’s Jalen and Jacoby to discuss the spate of trade rumors linking his eldest son to other NBA teams. The elder Ball told hosts Jalen Rose and David Jacoby that if Los Angeles decides to trade Lonzo, he would not directly object, but rather warn the team about the big mistake they might be making.
“I react to that the same way I told ’em before: If you want to trade my son, trade him. It’ll be the worst move you do in your entire life, so I don’t worry about no trade. I figure everybody’s going to be where they supposed to be.”
As opined by Lonzo Wire, LaVar Ball’s comments marked one of the rare occasions that he said something most Lakers fans agree with. The publication added that Lonzo Ball, despite his shooting issues, is a “superstar of the subtleties of the game” who benefits the Lakers more than he harms them whenever he’s directing the team at the point guard position.
The Lakers reportedly will not trade Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram or Josh Hart for Trevor Ariza. https://t.co/KgR2ALjvcN pic.twitter.com/AmEKmCZqfp
— Silver Screen and Roll (@LakersSBN) December 12, 2018
Prior to LaVar Ball’s appearance on Jalen and Jacoby, the Los Angeles Times‘ Broderick Turner reported that the Phoenix Suns rejected the Lakers’ trade offer for veteran forward Trevor Ariza. This is reportedly because they were not willing to give up any of their highly-touted youngsters — Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, or Josh Hart — in the deal. According to Turner, the Lakers have let other NBA teams know that they would only be willing to part ways with any of those players if the trade proposal involves a superstar player, as opposed to a role player like Ariza.
Not long after Turner’s report for the Los Angeles Times, NBA insider Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson tweeted that the Suns are still “actively trying” to trade for Ball. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, such a trade, if it pushes forward, would potentially allow Phoenix to address its weakness at point guard, with Ball’s pass-first tendencies theoretically meshing well with shooting guard Devin Booker’s skill set as the team’s top scorer.
