LaVar Ball Pulls Son Out of UCLA

The celebrity dad says he can get his son ready for the NBA draft better anyway
By Josh Rosenblatt,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 4, 2017 6:10 PM CST
LaVar Ball Pulls Son Out of UCLA
LaVar Ball   (AP Photo/John Locher)

LaVar Ball doesn't like people messing with his sons: not Donald Trump, not NBA superstars, and not UCLA. Ball, the father of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball, says he is pulling his second oldest, LiAngelo, out of UCLA in response to the school suspending him for shoplifting in China. LiAngelo Ball and two of his teammates were arrested and briefly detained last month, and their release set off a war of words between Ball and Trump. Now, per Bleacher Report, Ball has told several reporters that he and his son are "exploring other options." “I’m going to make him way better for the draft [than] UCLA ever could have," Ball said.

Ball said he can't accept the indefinite suspension his son is facing, nor the mistreatment he feels LiAngelo is facing from the team, including the suspension of his locker and meal card privileges. "He might as well be in jail," Ball told the Los Angeles Times. "I'm taking him and I'm gone." Though Ball says he hasn't officially contacted UCLA about his decision, a school official told ESPN that it "likely means the end of what was supposed to be a long, fruitful run with the Ball brothers." LaVar's third son, LaMelo—who was recently pulled out of high school by his father due to disagreements with the team coaching staff—may not be eligible to play for a college team because of his relationship with the family shoe company, Big Baller Brand. (More Lavar Ball stories.)

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