Source: Allen Berezovsky / Getty
There is plenty of basketball-related stuff that matters to LaVar Ball, but the Rookie of the Year award surely isn’t one.
The winner of the award hasn’t been announced yet, but it will most likely go to Ben Simmons, with Donovan Mitchell coming in second. The argument is that Simmons isn’t a true rookie because he was technically part of the previous draft class, but he sat out his entire first season because of a fractured bone in his foot. Mitchell, on the other hand, is a rookie in the classic sense and made a name for himself during the Utah Jazz’s playoff run. But one name that hasn’t been mentioned is Ball’s son, Lonzo Ball.
But LaVar doesn’t care that his eldest son wasn’t named a finalist.
“Who cares?! Who cares about Rookie of the Year?! Who cares about Rookie of the Year?! Ain’t no missed prediction. They all going to the NBA. I don’t care who Rookie of the Year is. I don’t care who’s Rookie of the Year. Rookie of the Year don’t mean nothing,” Ball told TMZ, who caught up with him outside of LAX.
But there was one huge honor that he thought Lonzo could have definitely accomplished in his rookie year: making the All-Star team.
“Lonzo could’ve been an All-Star this year,” the Big Baller Brand CEO told TMZ Sports. “He got hurt. That’s all. If he had been solid, go 80 games, durable, they understand what they got, that would make a big difference.”
He was, however, supposed to participate in the Rising Stars Challenge on All-Star weekend, but the knee injury sidelined him. As Zo continues to work on his game during the offseason, his brother LiAngelo is trying to join him in the league. He already has a pre-draft workout scheduled with the title-defending Golden State Warriors.
