While many around America took in the spectacle that was Lonzo vs. LaMelo on Friday, LaVar Ball was focused on one specific, predictable aspect of the game.
It wasn’t that his two sons were finally squaring off for the first time ever. Or that both had established roles with their respective teams. Or even that LaMelo nearly had a triple-double in a comeback win for the Hornets.
It was that LaMelo wasn’t starting.
A big fan of the starting label, LaVar ignored how well his youngest son had been playing and went straight to criticizing head coach James Borrego in a piece with Melissa Rohlin of Fox Sports.
“Tell me, have you ever seen a marquee guy, a marquee guy that you promoting in all of this ‘brothers going up against each other’ and he don’t start? I never seen that before in my life. That’s like telling Michael Jackson, ‘Hey man, you coming on second.'”
Despite the interview coming moments AFTER the exciting game, Ball had little mention of how well LaMelo had played and only focused on how his sons weren’t being used correctly by either Hornets coach James Borrego or Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy.
“As they say when you get to the NBA, the speed of the game changes. Well, my boys is the only ones who got to slow down when they get to the NBA.
…
“Their performances, it’s not going to be up to my standard on the fact that they’re not playing the style I taught them, which is that up-and-down pace, getting that ball in and out and just playing balls out. You can’t do that with these guys [their teammates]. These guys don’t have the confidence in that.”
After a weekend in which he nearly notched a triple-double on Friday and did make history as the youngest player to do so on Saturday, LaMelo is averaging 12.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists while shooting 43.5% from the field and 35.6% from 3-point territory.
Most importantly, Ball is averaging 24.9 minutes per game. After the opening two games in which Ball was brought along slowly after a scoreless debut, he is averaging 27.2 minutes per contest in the last eight games. In recent contests, he’s also closing games with the Hornets.
LaMelo has established himself in the Hornets rotation, the team is winning and he’s excelling. No starter label, or Michael Jackson comparison, is necessary.