Lakers will need Lonzo Ball to step up to his dad at some point

The Lakers need to tread carefully and cannot let this get any worse.

It’s a conversation that nobody wants to turn into a confrontation, but if anyone knows how to tow the line, it’s LaVar Ball. According to Bleacher Report, Ball commented on the Lakers’ coaching of his son as “soft” with that not being where he stopped.

Ball went as far as to say that winning should be the expectation now, with seemingly no grace period for there to be any sort of true development within the young core. If that needed any clarification, he was sure to provide it via Bleacher Report.

"“They’re letting it go too easy, saying they’re a young team,” he continued. “Forget about that! Put the [onus] on them. Say, ‘You guys need to win. You’ve got enough talent. Win some games.'”"

He’s got a point when he says that they do need to win, but there also should be a bit of reasonable accommodation to the fact that Lonzo hasn’t really been that much of a consistent game-changer, let alone scorer. And there is definitely work to be done on both Ball’s side of things as well as on the part of Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and others.

Los Angeles isn’t in a dire situation yet, but what they don’t want is to have to decide between Luke Walton and Lonzo Ball if things escalate too much with Ball’s father. If that were to happen, it would be an unfortunate turn of events for a Lakers squad that has showed plenty of promise.

Apparently, at least if LaVar Ball doesn’t reconsider his stance, promise isn’t good enough — so it’s up to Lonzo to deliver. The only one who might be able to get in the ear of the elder Ball, though, is his boy.

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In order for that to happen and be effective, Lonzo cannot afford to be passive like he has been up to this point. It just won’t work out if it continues.