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LaVar Ball critiques his sons’ coaches so much that he decided to suit up and coach himself.
And his first foray into the professional coaching space was successful. He took on the duties of LaMelo and LiAngelo‘s Prienu Vytautas squad and led them to a blowout 151-120 win over Jovana. The win marked the end of the Big Baller Brand Challenge in Lithuania. Melo was the standout during the game when he exploded with 40 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds. His older brother, Angelo, played a phenomenal game for Vytautas as well, scoring 31 points as he played almost the entire game.
Ball served as an assistant coach in Tuesday’s win before taking over for head coach Virginijus Seskus. It’s clear his sons have played better with their father on the bench. After Tuesday’s win, Seskus admitted: “LaVar wants the team to play fast. He also has an idea for a new way for the team to play defense, so we’re going to try it out tonight. Today we’ll be like two equal coaches, but this will only be for the friendly match.”
Thanks to Coach Ball’s 31-point win, the post-game interview was full of comedic gold. “I don’t lose, man. I can be a head coach anytime. This is easy for me,” said Ball. When asked what it was like to coach alongside Seskus, Ball remarked he told the coach to go lie down, have some milk and cookies, and relax.
But during the interview, he referred to Steve Kerr as the Milli Vanilli of coaching.
Not only did Ball take credit for coaching the Lithuanian team to victory, but he also credited himself with making the Lakers turn their season around after saying that the team didn’t want to play for Luke Walton. Ball knows his soundbites make headlines, and the controversial patriarch of the Ball family continues to legitimize himself into the world of basketball.
