LaVar Ball Offers Joel Embiid Encouragement After Lakers Beat 76ers

Brandon Ingram's three-pointer gave the Los Angeles Lakers a 107-104 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, but heads turned after the contest when LaVar Ball and Joel Embiid met and exchanged pleasantries.

Ball—the outspoken and well-known father of Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball—offered Embiid some advice and told him to "just keep playing," as Zach Gelb of Fox Sports Radio 920 shared:

Embiid also weighed in on the meeting on his Twitter page:

Despite the loss, Embiid thrived with 33 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five blocks while shooting 11-of-17 from the field. However, this meeting with LaVar extends well beyond the court considering the two have engaged in a war of words at times this year.

Embiid first encouraged teammate Ben Simmons to dunk on Lonzo "so hard that his daddy runs on the court to save him" on Twitter. He also shared an Instagram post with Lonzo falling down as he finished a basket following Philadelphia's 115-109 victory over Los Angeles in November:

Those with keen eyes will notice Embiid tagged the location as "Lavar, Fars, Iran" in the post.

What's more, Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype noted NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe announced Embiid was fined $10,000 for using inappropriate language directed at LaVar in an Instagram video.

The eldest Ball fired back, saying Embiid had to resort to curse words because "his vocabulary is limited," per TMZ Sports. "You gotta use cuss words when you don't have no intellect."

While fans may have to wait for the next chapter in this back-and-forth since the Lakers and 76ers don't play again this season, the two looked plenty friendly after Thursday's contest. Perhaps this will all be water under the bridge following the encounter and Ball's advice.