Barkley: Exploitive, no-talent LaVar Ball 'trying to make money on his kids'
LaVar Ball's list of detractors grows longer by the day.
Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is the latest to take aim at the controversial major domo of the Ball household, calling the 50-year-old father of Lakers rookie Lonzo and Lithuanian-bound teenagers LiAngelo and LaMelo untalented and exploitative on ESPN's Golic and Wingo show.
Barkley pulled no punches in assessing Ball's parenting skills and motivations:
I just feel sadness that the media - CNN, ESPN - has given this guy a platform. He represents everything that is bad about sports. It's all about him. I just feel bad for those kids. Everybody talks about how he might be a good father, this and that. No he's not; he's just exploiting his kids. I love the kid playing for the Lakers. I don't know about the other two kids. (LaVar) is all about "Big Baller Brand." He has no foreseeable talent. He's trying to make money on his kids, and I just feel sadness for those kids because they're going to do whatever he tells them to do. I just don't like the guy at all, plain and simple. And don't tell me he's a good father. Just because you exploit your kids, trying to make money because you have no talent, that does not make you a good father. That makes you exploiting your kids. And I don't like the guy at all. And I wish they would quit putting him on television, because he has no talent whatsoever.
Ouch.
Barkley might've been known as the "Round Mound of Rebound," but as things currently stand, he's certainly not a "Big Baller."