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NBA Draft: LaMelo Ball selected No. 3 by the Charlotte Hornets
SportsPulse: After a couple years playing abroad, LaMelo Ball will now call Charlotte home after being selected No. 3 by the Hornets and USA TODAY Sports’ Scott Gleeson tells us what they can expect.
Poor LaMelo Ball.
Do you root for your dad, or your new boss?
That would be his dilemma if LaVar Ball and Michael Jordan finally play one-on-one and settle their beef.
The notion, as farfetched as it might be, surfaced during the NBA draft Wedneday night after LaMelo Ball, LaVar’s youngest son, was picked third overall by the Charlotte Hornets, owned by Jordan.
NBA DRAFT: LaMelo Ball selected No. 3 by the Charlotte Hornets
In 2017, LaVar Ball told USA TODAY Sports that in his heyday, he “would kill’’ Jordan one-on-one. Six months later, Jordan was at his Flight School basketball camp on Monday in Santa Barbara, California, when he addressed LaVar Ball’s boasts.
“You’ve got to understand the source,” Jordan said. “He played, I think, college, maybe? He averaged 2.2 points per game. Really? It doesn’t dignify an answer, but I’m going to give it to you because you asked the question. I don’t think he could beat me if I was one-legged.”
So, now that LaMelo will be playing for Jordan’s team and LaVar surely will attend games when the pandemic allows, will the showdown actually take place now, and how would LaMelo deal with it?
He was deferential on Wednesday night when asked about playing for Jordan’s team.
“Man, straight blessing, for real,’’ LaMelo said. “I don’t even have enough words to say. I’m just blessed right now, for real.’’
LaVar Ball was less deferential than his son when he first stirred the pot in 2017.
“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 told USA TODAY Sports. “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.”
Ball, 6-6 and about 270 pounds, played basketball for Washington State during the 1987-88 season and averaged 2.2 points, 2.3 rebounds a game before transferring to Cal-State Los Angeles in search of more playing time. Jordan, meanwhile, averaged 35 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Chicago Bulls that same season and is widely regarded as the greatest player in basketball history.
Steve Ezell, an executive producer of “Ball in the Family,” a Facebook reality show featuring the Balls, voiced excitement of filming LaVar vs. Jordan for a future episode.
“Look, if they’re going to play one-on-one, as a producer I would love to see it happen, I’m sure the fans would love to see it happen and I”m sure that with the NBA’s blessing and Facebook on board, we would love to be out there capturing it,” he said. “It’s something that people would be super excited to see.
“LaVar certainly has staked his claim at this point, so would love to see him make the attempt to back it up.
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