During his last season at UCLA, Bruins guard and potential NBA lottery pick Lonzo Ball received some unfortunate news – his mother had suffered a stroke. Ball received this news not from his father LaVar but via a text message from a relative.
The way his son heard about the news understandably infuriated LaVar Ball.
From ESPN's Ramona Shelburne:
LaVar is quiet while his son answers questions about his mom. LaVar’s instinct when Tina first went into the hospital was to protect his sons from worrying too much. He wanted to tell Lonzo the news in person so he could help him process it. Instead, Lonzo got a text message from a relative in the middle of a practice at UCLA.
LaVar was furious. “Who are they to text my son that s—? I was going to tell him in person. Lonzo was coming to watch his brothers play and I was going to tell him, ‘Son, your mom is in a bad spot right now.'”
Lonzo left practice as soon as he saw the text and rushed home. It was serious, but she survived, is now in rehab, and in time, LaVar says, she’s expected to recover. He told his sons to focus on basketball. The only way he knew to help them was to keep the situation as quiet as possible, to handle everything behind the scenes so they could compartmentalize. “Here’s what I tell my boys: ‘You all do what y’all do. I got your mama,'” LaVar says.
LaVar's explanation is very easy to understand as he wanted to share the news the way he wanted to. The good news, is that Tina Ball is recovering after being in the hospital for two and a half months.
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