LiAngelo Ball Says UCLA Told Him to Thank Donald Trump for Release After Arrest

Appearing on 105.1 FM's The Breakfast Club on Wednesday, LiAngelo Ball said he was told by UCLA to thank President Donald Trump following his return home from China.

Beginning at the 25:46 mark of the following video, Ball said UCLA officials had him add a mention of Trump to the statement he had prepared:

"If they didn't tell me to do it, it wouldn't have been in there," Ball said regarding Trump.

Ball and UCLA teammates Cody Riley and Jalen Hill returned home in November after being detained in China for shoplifting. Trump indicated his intervention and discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping played a role in their return, according to ESPN.com.

Upon the return of Ball and his teammates to the United States, Trump tweeted on the matter, writing, "Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!"

During the press conference held for Ball, Riley and Hill, Ball said, "I'd also like to thank President Trump and the United States government for the help that they provided as well," per ESPN.com.

Ball's father, LaVar Ball, later questioned what Trump did to help, saying, "Who? What was he over there for? Don't tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out," according to ESPN.com's Arash Markazi.

That led Trump to tweet, "Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!"

UCLA suspended LiAngelo indefinitely, but LaVar announced on Dec. 4 that he was pulling his son out of the school.

On Monday, LiAngelo and younger brother LaMelo Ball each agreed to one-year deals with Lithuanian professional club Prienu Vytautas, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony.