The Lakers are handling LaVar Ball exactly how they should

The L.A. Lakers knew what they were signing up for when they drafted Lonzo Ball No. 2 overall in the 2017 NBA draft.

By that point, Ball’s father, LaVar, was an ESPN star: a loud, brash meme machine who made absurd claims and ran his mouth at everyone, no matter their stature. LaVar had no filter well before Lonzo visited the Lakers for a workout. LaVar had already critiqued UCLA coach Steve Alford — despite his second son, LiAngelo, preparing to join the Bruins and youngest, LaMelo, a couple of years away from Westwood. The Lakers knew that Lonzo came with a 50-year-old, 6’5 piece of baggage.

They drafted him anyway. The baggage has arrived:

On Sunday, ESPN’s Jeff Goodman published quotes from LaVar claiming that Luke Walton has lost his Lakers’ ears and that the team no longer wants to play for him. This isn’t the first time an NBA dad has criticized his son’s coach. This isn’t the first time that’s happened this season. But because the sports media (including SB Nation) covers the Ball family rather closely — ESPN sent a reporter to Lithuania to follow the younger Ball sons — LaVar’s quotes were blared from chyrons and Twitter accounts.

The Lakers closed ranks around Walton, refusing to dignify the comments with an official response but making clear to the media that Walton’s position is secure. (As it should be.) Lonzo said the right things in his media availability, disagreeing with his father about Walton’s hold over the locker room. And an unexpected defender came to Walton’s side, as well.

That’s where this gets really interesting.

Rick Carlisle, who leads the coaches’ association, ripped ESPN for publishing LaVar’s quotes. Carlisle said that as an NBA partner, ESPN eroded the trust between coaches and the media company by letting a “blowhard loudmouth” critique a coach in the way Ball did. (Because Carlisle is speaking from his perch with the coaches’ association and not as the Mavericks head coach, we’ll ignore the odd relationship Dallas has with ESPN reporters for a moment.)

Carlisle is not wrong that Ball is a “blowhard loudmouth.” And he’s not wrong that the best solution is for everyone to ignore him. But so long as he is one of the most interesting figures in the sport — and he is, like him or not — no one in the media is ignoring him.

So what are the Lakers to do?

Exactly what they are doing.

Lonzo has been dealing with his dad for longer than any of us. He seems unperturbed by the latest brouhaha. He said (pretty close to) the right things when asked about it on Sunday. As noted, the Lakers are refusing to comment. This is the perfect tone to take. If the Lakers commented on this or any other LaVar broadside, they’d have to comment on all of them. Better to ignore the nonsense from the start.

Walton is smart and chill. He too said all the right things before L.A.’s Sunday game against the Hawks, a win that snapped a nine-game losing streak. He focused his concern not on LaVar’s black hole ego, but on the impact on Lonzo. Walton’s concern wasn’t with how this kerfuffle affects him or his status, but how it affects his star rookie.

Walton wisely didn’t go after ESPN over publishing the quotes. The Lakers didn’t threaten any credentials or suggest reporters should side with coaches over critics. In fact, in true Waltonian fashion, the coach joked with reporters after the game, claiming that he pulled Lonzo earlier than usual because “his dad was talking s—t.” He deflated the elephant in the room with ease and aplomb.

The Lakers are doing everything right. They’ve tried to minimize LaVar’s impact by making player families less available to the media at home games — this is a lesser concern now that the Balls have gone to Eastern Europe. They’ve stuck by Walton in silence and even reached out to LaVar privately at an attempt at detente.

Carlisle thinks we should all ignore LaVar Ball. That’s just not going to happen. But the Lakers ignoring him? That’s possible. It’s what they’re doing successfully.

Eventually we’ll all move on to a shiny new bauble, and perhaps then Lonzo can have the semblance of a normal career.