LaVar Ball debates Kevin Durant on the Nets star’s podcast
After he had Kyrie Irving on his podcast, The ETCs with Kevin Durant, Brooklyn’s superstar forward welcomed entertainers and other individuals on his show. Irving may have made headlines when he joined Durant as they discussed the future of the Nets franchise, but the latest individual to join Durant may be the most controversial individual from the basketball world at this point in time: LaVar Ball.
Naturally, the conversation was focused primarily on Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball — reflecting on how LaVar raised them with his wife and getting a greater understanding of how he continues to parent them. While things never got testy, LaVar is known for his passion — so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that there was a debate on the show.
“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.”
That’s where Durant had to step in.
“I don’t think you can press in the league,” he said.
“Nobody does, unless I can get up there and coach and I show ya,” Ball replied.
Durant contested him again:
“You can’t.”
That’s when Ball turned it on.
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do,” he said.
“Cuz you know the athleticism is a little bit different up here,” Durant responded, as Ball interrupted him.
“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 didn’t back down.
“You’re not pressing no point guard, no starting point guard in the league right now,” he said.
“I’ll double his [expletive] every single time,” Ball retorted. “If I’m leaving somebody wide open, I don’t care. You gonna see.”
Durant kept pushing Ball.
“That’s not — I don’t believe that’s happening,” Brooklyn’s superstar 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.”
Ball still couldn’t win Durant over.
“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.”
By then, Durant was ready to let things go and move on with the rest of the interview.
“Yeah, you usually make it work,” the Brooklyn forward said. “So, we’ll see.”
