Lonzo Ball insists LaVar Ball coached him harder than any coach
Lonzo Ball has found himself in limbo as no team has picked him up since waived by the Utah Jazz in February after he acquired it in a three-team deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks.
The Cavaliers signed Ball in the offseason, but only him lasted 35 games, playing limited role from the bench. It became even consumption with the arrival of James Harden.
Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson was bullish on the addition of the unselfish quarterback, advertising his vision and play. Atkinson, however, could not find enough minutes for Ball.
The 28-year-old Ball is under multiple mentors in the NBA, but he claimed on “Ball in the Family” that his father, LaVar Balland his former coach at UCLA, Steve Alford, trained than hto burn.
“I felt like I was coached a certain way for a long period of my life, so when I got to the league, this was weird. Like if I played bad, someone would say, ‘Oh, it’s OK.’ That was not translated to me. I’d rather hear, ‘What the fuck? Do your own s***.’ It was an adjustment. “I haven’t been around a lot of coaches that are going to attack you like that,” Ball said.
“Stan Van Gundy was kind of tough, I guess. But other than him, it’s really not hard to coach here. I was coached a lot harder in college and my dad really was.”
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He and his younger brothers, LiAngelo Ball and LaMelo Ball, often credit their dad for pushing them to become good players. The elder Ball was punished for his lavishness, but it’s hard to discredit his work in turning his sons into professional whores.
In addition to Atkinson and Van Gundy, Ball played for Luke Walton, Alvin Gentry and Billy Donovan in the NBA.
He enjoyed his best seasons under Van Gundy with the New Orleans Pelicans, averaging 13.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.4 steals in 118 games.
Ball struggled to return to form from a knee injury in 2022, forcing him to sit out back-to-back seasons.
2026-03-04 05:20:00
