Kevin Durant had one of the most controversial figures in the NBA as his latest guest on “The ETCs” podcast. LaVar Ball made an appearance on the show, where he mostly discussed topics related to his sons, Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo. The conversation, in general, was really fluid but knowing how hard-headed he is, it was a matter of time before he debated with the Brooklyn Nets superstar.
Durant is also a person with a strong opinion about things and he didn’t back down from LaVar, engaging in a very entertaining debate about pressing in the NBA.
“Hey, don’t let me be no coach in the NBA. Why? I’m gonna be the first sucker to press,” Ball said. “‘You can’t press!’ Somebody [is] gonna get tired. You can say what you want, but somebody [is] gonna get tired, and it ain’t gonna be us.”
“I don’t think you can press in the league,” Durant replied.
“Nobody does, unless I can get up there and coach and I show ya,” Ball replied.
After that, a very entertaining debate followed, in which KD tried to convince LaVar that his thoughts were wrong but the Ball family patriarch wasn’t having that.
Durant: “You can’t.”
Ball: “Don’t tell me what I can’t do.”
“Cuz you know the athleticism is a little bit different up here,” Durant responded, as Ball interrupted him.
Ball: “I don’t care how — you could be the most athletic sucker in the world, if you ain’t got no wind, I’m gonna tear your [expletive],” Ball said. “Somebody gonna get tired.”
Durant: “You’re not pressing no point guard, no starting point guard in the league right now.”
Ball: “I’ll double his [expletive] every single time. If I’m leaving somebody wide open, I don’t care. You gonna see.”
That was a really good back and forth, with both trying to prove their points but never coming to an agreement.
“That’s not — I don’t believe that’s happening,” KD said.
“I’ll overplay, you’re gonna have to throw that ball — I guarantee you,” Ball said. “You know why they don’t press? Because that’s the word. See, you [are] putting it out there, too. Can’t press, point guard’s too good. Yeah, you might get through 20 times, but we see what you [are] gonna do the other 40 times. I’ll tell you that.”
KD made it clear that if Ball ever had a chance to coach in the league and he came with that approach, he would have been jobless again within a few months.
“That would never happen,” Durant said. “If that happens, you get fired within the first few months.”
“I’m gonna say to you this: every time you suckers losing, they don’t know how to press the whole time, that’s why,” Ball said. “My philosophy is this: don’t wait ’til you get down to press. How about we do it the whole game. And then it’s a shock in the NBA. … If you already play like that when you’re starting the game, you’re already in desperation, so it lasts the whole time.
“It would be different, but I love when they say that would never work.”
KD tried to move on with the conversation, admitting to Ball that he always finds a way to make things work.
“Yeah, you usually make it work,” the Brooklyn forward said. “So, we’ll see.”
It’s unclear if LaVar is doing these things just because he wants to make some headlines or if he actually believes in what he says. The league has changed a lot and the pace it has right now makes it impossible for teams to play the way he wants during eight months without getting exhausted to the postseason. But this is LaVar Ball we’re talking about; almost anything is possible for him.
