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The Lonzo Ball hype just keeps raising the bar of NBA buzz. Now, even the president has a part to play in the frenzied media attention drawn to this rising NBA player.
LaVar Ball, the prominent and proud father of three up-and-coming basketball players, recently went on a global stage as he was invited to an exclusive interview by CNN's Chris Cuomo. The main agenda of the interview was for some juicy disclosure, from the highly entertaining and controversial LaVar Ball, on the recent incident in China that involved one of his sons.
LiAngelo, the second eldest son, visited China with his UCLA basketball team. During the short stint, LiAngelo, along with teammates Jalen Hill and Cody Riley got arrested and held after they were accused of shoplifting.
LaVar, with being his usual loud and animated personality, spoke with CNN's Chris Cuomo in a heated 20-plus minutes interview session about his response to the whole fiasco. The most notable and tabloid-worthy portion included LaVar's personal response to President Donald Trump's tweets about the incident.
Widely known to be highly public in his comments on social media, President Trump tweeted about his role in ensuring the safe and expedited return of the three UCLA players, through his usually active Twitter account. Trump also expressed publicly that he deserved a proper “thank you” from the trio and now LaVar because they have the good fortune of him speaking on their behalf to the China's leader Xi Jinping to facilitate their early release.
Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017
LaVar has other thoughts about President Trump's involvement or help. He claimed that Trump did not plan his trip to China for the UCLA incident and that he did not intentionally did his deed of lending a helping hand. From LaVar's account, because Trump did not purposely made the trip to save his son, LiAngelo, and his two teammates, he felt it was not necessary to thank Trump, since his actions were not clear. LaVar claimed that he did not hear personally from President Trump regarding the issue and he would not thank him just based on what Trump claims to have done for them.
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As if the drama was not colorful enough, Trump tweeted on before the following statement:
Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017
It truly was an interesting and heated exchange between Cuomo and LaVar, as they repeatedly argue about the stance taken by the latter in this whole incident.
Just like his previous media invites and interviews, LaVar's responses are clearly inviting attention and creating marketing buzz for his Big Baller Brand. If one is not aware of his brand and the Ball brothers, one just might start Googling to find out who is this fella. Being classic LaVar, he did not forget to give some air time promoting his start-up brand on international broadcasting prime time.
It seems Trump and Ball, being the straight talking and strong personality that they are, are both not going to back down anytime soon. Bolstered with the recent impressive performances in the latest of 17 games, LaVar's son Lonzo is sure to turn heads globally. With such a flamboyant and opinionated father, it is likely that this Lonzo fever is only just beginning. One thing for sure is, this won't be the last time you will see LaVar and his sons in the media spotlight.
