Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

LaVar Ball claims he could beat Michael Jordan one-on-one; reveals son Lonzo faced NCAA investigation

vZXm7_FTbS4V
Doug Gottlieb explains why Lonzo Ball will be a very productive NBA player and also talks about how his father has shaped him into the person that he is.

LaVar Ball is back at it again.

The father of UCLA star freshman Lonzo Ball, and younger brothers LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball of Chino Hills High School, has been known to make some outlandish statements regarding his kids before.

But LaVar’s latest interview with Josh Peter of USA Today Sports might take the cake.

In the profile, Ball states that he could beat Michael Jordan one-on-one in his prime with some ridiculous quotes.

“Back in my heyday, I would kill Michael Jordan one-on-one,’’ Ball said to Peter in the profile.

“I would just back (Jordan) in and lift him off the ground and call a foul every time he fouls me when I do a jump hook to the right or the left,” Ball said. “He cannot stop me one-on-one. He better make every shot ’cause he can’t go around me. He’s not fast enough. And he can only make so many shots outside before I make every bucket under the rim.”

Maybe the most enlightening bit to come from Ball’s interview is the revelation that the NCAA investigated Lonzo Ball and the Big Baller Brand, the Ball family’s clothing line.

LaVar said that last February, UCLA asked him to take down a photo of Lonzo from the Big Ballers Brand website because he might face eligibility issues. It turns out it was a rival school that called about the potential violation.

“I was going to tell them, Big Ballers style, see if you can go win this (NCAA) tournament without my son,” Ball said to Peter. “I said, ‘Let me tell you guys something right now, If I come down there, it ain’t going to be about no complaints. I’m coming down to get my son.’ And that’s when they was like, ‘LaVar, it wasn’t us. It was USC.’ ”

The Trojans are the ones who notified UCLA of Lonzo’s photo on the website, according to Peter’s report. USC sports information director Tim Tessalone acknowledged that the Trojans were also involved as they notified UCLA of the photo. Lonzo’s photo has since been taken off the website.

The NCAA even released a statement on Saturday saying that Lonzo Ball won’t face any sanctions, which carries some significance since LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball are both verbally committed to the Bruins in future years.

Lonzo Ball is an expected top-five pick in the upcoming 2017 NBA Draft as he was the nation’s leader in assists per game this season. UCLA is a No. 3 seed in the South Region as they open with No. 14 Kent State.