It’s been months since LaVar Ball made his ludicrous claims about beating Michael Jordan one-on-one, but up to this point the NBA legend hasn’t responded. On Monday at Michael Jordan Flight School, the GOAT answered.
Michael Jordan tells campers that LaVar Ball should ‘shut up, and let the kid play’
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Jordan was asked for his take on LaVar Ball and his kids, which he opened by being complimentary. He said that every parent is proud of their kids, and that it’s clear Ball is proud of his sons — and that they’re great basketball players, but it wasn’t long before Jordan had some choice words about the pressure on Lonzo Ball.
“I would say if I had to sit down and talk to him right now, if he was here, I’d tell him to shut up, and let the kid play”
This drew huge cheers and clapping from the crowd in attendance. Jordan didn’t stop there, addressing LaVar Ball’s claims that he could beat him one-on-one.
“You’ve got to understand the source. He played, I think ... college maybe? He averaged, what, 2.2 points a game? For real? I doesn’t dignify an answer, but I’ll give you one, because you asked a question, I don’t think he could beat me if I was one-legged.”
This drew more cheers and clapping from the crowd.
Look, we get it. A lot of people are sick of hearing about Ball and are tired of seeing his every word get amplified and broadcast into the world. Especially when there are so many more interesting voices that don’t get the platform they deserve, and even more so when Ball’s actions have been disgusting and misogynistic. However, the reality is that Ball has said a lot of stuff about a lot of very influential people, like Jordan, and they’re starting to respond because they can’t ignore it any longer.
In a perfect world, we might all be able to just brush it aside and stop it all from happening, but Jordan hasn’t said anything meaningful about Ball up to this point, and his response means something. Yes, this will result in Ball clapping back and getting his name in the headlines again, because that’s what he does — but eventually people run out of things to say, especially when their only go-to is claiming they’ll beat people in one-on-one games and never actually playing.
