ESPN's Stephen A. Smith got into an epic shouting match with LaVar Ball over Michael Jordan
(ESPN)
LaVar Ball, the father of UCLA's Lonzo Ball, has repeatedly proved that he is not short on confidence in either himself or any of his three basketball-playing sons. That swagger reached epic proportions on Thursday during a segment on ESPN's "First Take."
Host Stephen A. Smith challenged Ball on his recent comments that he could have beaten Michael Jordan one-on-one in his prime.
Ball wouldn't back down, saying Jordan "would need help — he's too small."
This got Smith even more fired up than usual, and Ball was up to the task. The two traded verbal punches like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. For each of Smith's exclamations, Ball upped the ante, saying Lonzo was better than Stephen Curry and that he would have an effect on the Lakers similar to Magic Johnson's.
While there was no winner in this debate, this was clear: Smith has finally met his match, and we are the real winners for having this to watch.
Here are about five minutes of the highlights:
Here's a more condensed version, from Smith's Instagram:
LaVar Ball is #sodisrespectful. MJ would mop the floor with him. #nba
A post shared by Stephen A. Smith (@stephenasmith) on Mar 23, 2017 at 10:33am PDT on Mar 23, 2017 at 10:33am PDT
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