LaVar Ball is trying to force a "My Three Sons" sitcom on the Los Angeles Lakers, threatening that one of his sons, rookie guard Lonzo Ball, won't re-sign with the team unless the Lakers also take on his two brothers.
LaVar Ball, who has become the Kris Kardashian of basketball, told a Lithuanian reporter that it only makes sense that the Lakers would have all three of his sons on the team.
LiAngelo Ball, 19, left UCLA, and LaMelo Ball, 16, left high school, and then both went to play professionally for Prienu Vytautas in Lithuania in January, the Daily Mail reported.
The three brothers’ lives already could fill a season for a TV reality show, ever since their father became a celebrity dad by trying to muscle a sports shoe contract for Lonzo Ball, then gave up on that and put out his own brand.
During his brief stint at UCLA, LiAngelo Ball -- along with Bruin players Jalen Hill and Cody Riley -- was suspended from the team indefinitely after being accused of shoplifting at an upscale mall in China during an overseas trip in November, per The Los Angeles Times.
LaVar Ball pulled him out of school, charging that UCLA had wronged him, the Times noted.
"He might as well be in jail,'' LaVar Ball told the newspaper. "I'm not going to let UCLA take the fire out of my boy by not letting him play for two months. We're going to do some other options.''
He also pulled LaMelo Ball out of high school for home schooling and basketball training.
LaVar Ball's endgame has always been the Lakers.
"I want to let every NBA team know that Lonzo is not going to resign (sic) with the Lakers but will go to any team that will take all of my three boys. That's my plan," LaVar Ball said, according to Lithuanian reporter Donatas Urbonas.
"Lonzo plays best when he is with his brother," the elder Ball continued. "Why wouldn't — he is a hell of a shooter. They don't play the same position. You see how successful he was when he was with his brother?"
It’s not the first time LaVar Ball floated the idea. In a news conference in Lithuania in January, LaVar Ball predicted that all three of his sons will be playing for the Lakers by 2020, with LiAngelo Ball being drafted by the team this summer, according to USA Today's For The Win blog.
Lonzo Ball, 20, who is averaging a little more than 10 points per game in his rookie season with the Lakers, is currently recovering from a sprained left medial collateral ligament that has kept him out of the lineup for almost a month, The Los Angeles Times reported.