LaVar Ball, Kevin Durant get in heated exchange on The ETCs podcast
While LaVar Ball is ever willing to appear on effectively any podcast or network television show, his appearance on Thursday’s episode of The ETCs with Kevin Durant was certainly a different type of interview than normal for the Big Baller.
Ball, Durant and co-host Eddie Gonzalez talked for the better part of an hour about a number of topics, ranging from Ball’s parenting of his sons at a young age that led to all three of them becoming NBA players to Big Baller Brand. The most interesting segment of the podcast, though, came on a back-and-forth between Ball and Durant.
To provide some context to the exchange, Ball has been a believer that pressing a team defensively and trying to simply outscore them is the best way to play. It’s the system Chino Hills used when his three sons played together and finished undefeated and it’s the system Ball used in the JBA for both LaMelo and LiAngelo.
It’s also a system Ball said he would use if he coached an NBA team. Typically someone who doesn’t have his exorbitant claims pushed back upon, Ball saw Durant dispute the notion that pressing in the NBA would be an effective strategy, leading to a debate between the two. Though it never appeared to be more than a friendly debate, neither side would budge on their stance.
Durant: “I don’t think you can press in the league.”
Ball: “Nobody does unless I get up there and coach and I’ll show you.”
Durant: “You can’t.”
Ball: “Don’t tell me what I can’t do.”
Durant: “You know the athleticism is a little bit different.”
Ball: “I don’t care. You can be the most athletic sucker in the world. If you ain’t got no wind, I’m going to tear your [expletive] up. Somebody going to get tired.”
Durant: “You’re not pressing no starting point guard in the league right now.”
Ball: “[Expletive], I’ll double his [expletive] every time. If I leave somebody open, I don’t care. We going to see.”
Durant: “I don’t believe that’s happening.”
Ball: “I’ll overplay, you’re going to have to throw that ball, I guarantee. You know why they don’t press? Because that’s the word. See, you’re putting it out there, too. ‘Can’t press, point guard’s too good.’ Yeah, you might get through 20 times but we going to see what you’ll do the other 40 times.”
Durant: “[laughs] That will never happen. If that happens, you’ll get fired within the first few months.”
The exchange occurred in the middle of the podcast and the conversation went on without any ill feelings, further indicating neither side was made at the debate. Both said plenty of nice things about the other at the end of the podcast as well.
While Ball’s style worked in high school and it has had success in college in the right scenarios and situations, as Durant said, there is no chance it would work in the NBA. Also, despite all of Ball’s accomplishments as a father and businessman, Durant is the one who has not only played in the league but is one of the greatest players of his generation.
