De’Aaron Fox had some added motivation when his Kentucky Wildcats took on Lonzo Ball’s UCLA Bruins in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. According to Sports Illustrated, that reason was to “shut LaVar Ball up.”
De’Aaron Fox said he scored 39 points on Lonzo Ball in the Sweet 16 to ‘shut LaVar Ball up’
Fox: “I guess when your son is a lottery pick, that gives you a lot of confidence.”
Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports
LaVar Ball, the father to projected No. 2 overall pick Lonzo Ball, had been outspoken regarding his son’s talent level. He’s twice said Lonzo was better than two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry and proclaimed his son would only play for the Los Angeles Lakers, even though a player’s landing spot is out of his control.
“In the last year, he became relevant for some reason,” Fox said of LaVar Ball. “When I knew Lonzo in high school, I’d never seen his dad before. He went crazy this year. I guess when your son is a lottery pick, that gives you a lot of confidence.”
Fox took that motivation and tore Ball up in the Sweet 16, scoring 39 points on 13-of-20 shooting to lead Kentucky to an 86-75 victory. Ball only scored 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting and turned the ball over four times.
It was the highest scoring game of Fox’s freshman season, an outing against a top-two draft prospect that helped elevate his draft stock as one of the top point guards of his class. He is projected as the fourth point guard off the board — behind Markelle Fultz, Ball, and Dennis Smith Jr. — going No. 8 to the New York Knicks in our most recent NBA Mock Draft.
Depending on where they land, Fox and Ball could meet each other as many as four times in a season or as few as twice a year. Either way, if this rookie-on-rookie war morphs into a friendly rivalry down the road, we’ll see who gets the last laugh later on.
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