LaVar Ball asserts again that his son Lonzo is 'better than Steph Curry'

Lonzo Ball did not come out on top in his most recent showdown with Steph Curry. (Harry How/Getty Images)

Believe it or not, there was a time when almost nobody had heard of LaVar Ball. In fact, that time existed this very year, albeit very early in 2017.

Then, in February, Ball said that his son Lonzo, a freshman at UCLA, was “better than Steph Curry.” The comments went viral, people started asking Ball for more of his thoughts, and, one feud with President Trump later, here we are.

So with Lonzo Ball now a prized rookie with the Lakers — albeit one struggling badly to make shots — and with Los Angeles set to host the Warriors Wednesday, it only made sense to revisit those boasts with his father. However, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke barely had time to begin asking LaVar Ball about his current Lonzo/Steph thoughts before the outspoken patriarch gave his answer.

[Lonzo Ball’s passing ability isn’t enough to overcome his historically bad shooting]

“You ain’t even got to ask me that question. Until I die, I will always think that my son is better than Steph Curry,” Ball exclaimed. “Always!”

“I trained my son. I know what he’s about,” Ball said. “You guys know what Steph is about from what you’ve seen. I don’t know what Steph is about.”

“He’s a good player,” Ball graciously acknowledged, prompting Burke to point out, “He’s a two-time MVP.”

“He can be a 10-time MVP. I still don’t think he’s better than my son,” Ball said.

Say one thing for Ball, he has never lacked for confidence, either in his children or his ability to make brash pronouncements. In fairness, his oft-stated prediction that his beloved Lakers would draft Lonzo did, in fact, come to pass, so he has some justification for thinking that he can take an improbable concept and, as he has put it, “speak it into existence.”

And guess what? For one night, anyway, Lonzo Ball was better than Curry, if only in the Warriors star’s calling-card category, three-point shooting. Ball hit three of seven from behind the arc, while Curry hit just three of nine. In addition, Ball was credited with 10 assists and just two turnovers, while Curry had seven assists and five turnovers.

Lonzo getting confidence in his shot not thinking as much and just shooting it with no hesitation pic.twitter.com/Qjp4MTzOBg

— gifdsports (@gifdsports) November 30, 2017

Advantage, Big Baller Brand! Then again, Curry hit nine of 20 shots overall, to Ball’s five of 12, scored 28 points to Ball’s 15 and was a plus-four in his time on the court, to Ball’s minus-eight. Oh yeah, and Curry’s team won in overtime, 127-123, despite an injury to his shooting hand that he suffered in a game Saturday.

As Wednesday’s game drew near, Curry had said that he could “relate” to Ball’s difficulties, both as an NBA rookie and as someone struggling with expectations created by a well-known father. In Curry’s case, it wasn’t so much his father’s words but his deeds, as Dell Curry was a longtime NBA player renowned for his own shooting prowess.

“Early in my sophomore and junior years in high school, there was a little extra pressure because of who my dad was,” Curry told ESPN’s Chris Haynes, “and I felt like everybody was kind of critiquing my every move on the court. … But at the end of the day, I taught myself how to have a sense of humor about it and understand that it kind of comes with the territory of choosing the same sport that my pops played, and dealing with it that way. [Lonzo] can’t let what people say bother him. Use it as motivation.”

As for LaVar Ball’s repeated words about his son being superior to Curry, the latter said, “I know what his pop said, but I want to be respectful. At the end of the day, if my pop said something crazy, I would have to kind of think about it a certain type of way, but I don’t know what I would do or how I’d react to it. I’m very sensitive to talking about someone’s family. I don’t want to disrespect anybody.

“His pop has a mic on him at all times, and so he says some things. I’ll leave it at that.”

Steph Curry on facing Lonzo Ball for the first time, people trying to change his shot and whether the LaVar comments last year are extra motivation ("No. More comic relief.") pic.twitter.com/CY9RkHRAAs

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 28, 2017

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