Teams Shouldn't Give A Shit About LaVar Ball - Even When He Says 'Wherever LaMelo Goes, You're Giving The Bigger Baller Brand A Whole City'

It's draft day and yes we still have LaVar dropping quotes like this. Granted, it's not nearly as aggressive as some of his other claims - like beating Michael Jordan 1v1, the Lakers never winning anything when they traded Lonzo, etc. But here's one of the biggest stories of the day. Teams freaking out about LaVar and possibly passing on LaMelo. It was addressed on PicksCentral a bit today: 

Our guy Mintzy makes a valid point about how LaVar has basically stepped aside with Lonzo in New Orleans. He'll put out outrageous statements, but he's not going to derail a franchise with Lonzo or LaMelo. Overthinking this and teams passing on him in the top-3 makes no sense to me. Teams should not give a shit about LaVar or what he says, especially when it's harmless shit like this. Remember, LaMelo is with Puma anyways. 

I get that it's easy to hate on the family because of all the LaVar shit and the TV show and even when LaMelo was 14 and cherry picking to score 90 points. But this LaMelo is a completely different person and player. If you read stories and followed him in Australia, his teammates had nothing but positive reviews about him. There recently was a story in The Athletic about his time playing in Ohio at SPIRE Academy and all his teammates there - mostly high D-1 players right now, had nothing but positives. There's nothing really to put out there from a negative teammate standpoint.

He's also a clear top-3 talent in this draft. That's not even a hot take and you can't even really argue it. In some order it's him, James Wiseman and Anthony Edwards. Yes, his shot needs finetuning but it's not a complete disaster. He's also a 6'6" lead guard with elite passing skills and ball control. That matters way more than whatever the fuck LaVar says. Hell, his quote isn't even that wrong. Almost any top-3 pick gets 'the city'. The pressure immediately goes on them whether it's a deep draft or not, the only exception is someone like the Warriors who had a fluky injury-prone season and purposely tank. 

Shit, give him the keys to New York if the Knicks can trade up into the top-3. Can't get any worse than it is now for the Knicks.