LaVar Ball has expressed his desire for his three sons, Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo, to join the Los Angeles Clippers instead of the Lakers. The outspoken father holds a grudge against the Lakers for how they handled Lonzo Ball’s departure and doesn’t want any of his sons playing for the Purple and Gold.
LaVar’s vision for his sons playing together in the NBA remains strong, but he now hopes they will unite on the Clippers, a team set to move into their new arena, the Intuit Dome.
“I want them all to play for the Clippers,” LaVar stated. He believes the Clippers offer a better fit and is a fan of the team’s owner, Steve Ballmer.
LaVar’s dissatisfaction with the Lakers stems from his belief that the organization mistreated Lonzo, the eldest of the Ball brothers. Lonzo was drafted by the Lakers in 2017 but was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans as part of the deal that brought Anthony Davis to Los Angeles in 2019.
The father Ball questioned why he would want his other sons to join a franchise that did not, in his view, value Lonzo. “I don’t wanna go back to the Lakers on the fact how you did Lonzo. So why’d I bring the other two?” he said, dismissing the idea of them joining the Lakers.
Instead, LaVar sees a partnership with the Clippers as a promising option, highlighting his respect for Ballmer and his leadership. He even joked about their shared last names, saying, “That’s why I tell him, my last name Ball, his last name Ballmer, we push the ball more.”
In his vision, LaVar hopes for a future where the Clippers could trade for LaMelo Ball, currently with the Charlotte Hornets, and sign Lonzo, who is in the final year of his contract with the Chicago Bulls. Lonzo has not played in the past two seasons due to a knee injury.
However, LaVar’s dream of seeing his sons together in Los Angeles may be complicated by contractual and injury concerns. LaMelo, the youngest of the Ball brothers, is the first year of a five-year, $203 million contract with the Hornets, tying him to Charlotte for the foreseeable future.
Lonzo, meanwhile, is in the final year of a four-year, $80 million contract with the Bulls but remains sidelined due to his injury. He has not played since January 2022, and his future in the league remains uncertain as he works towards recovery and is expected to play in the 2024-25 season.
LiAngelo, the middle brother, is still seeking a stable NBA opportunity. He has had short stints with the Detroit Pistons and the Charlotte Hornets’ G League affiliate but has yet to secure a long-term NBA contract. His most recent appearance was with the Astros de Jalisco in Mexico, where an ankle injury limited him to just two games.
While LaVar’s ambitions for his sons to play together in Los Angeles may be clear, the path to making that dream a reality remains uncertain. The Clippers would need to navigate the complexities of contracts, trades, and player health if they were to bring the Ball brothers together.
For now, LaVar remains hopeful that the Clippers, under Ballmer’s leadership, could be the team to unite his sons on the NBA court.
