LaVar Ball

LaVar Ball was one proud papa on draft night. As expected, the Lakers selected his son Lonzo Ball with the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, keeping the UCLA star close to home for the start of his NBA career.

Lonzo will have his work cut out, taking over as point guard on a young team that had the third-worst record in the NBA last season. But that didn’t stop LaVar from making a big guarantee to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman: the Lakers will make the playoffs next season.

But remember: this is LaVar Ball. So guaranteeing a Lakers playoff berth was far form his most outrageous claim of the night. Prior to the draft, LaVar also told Goodman he got word from Zeus and Jesus that Lonzo would be a Laker.

We’ve already heard everyone from NBA players to talking heads speculate that LaVar’s big mouth could make Lonzo’s first year in the NBA pretty rough. But at least for now, players are just focusing on lampooning LaVar.

https://twitter.com/bensimmons25/status/878038026122924033

Sounds like the first Sixers-Lakers matchup of the 2017-18 season could get entertaining.

[ESPN]

About Jesse Kramer

Jesse is a writer and editor for The Comeback. He has also worked for SI.com and runs The Catch and Shoot, a college basketball website based in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow Jesse on Twitter @Jesse_Kramer.