Metta World Peace Says LaVar Ball Should Be an NBA Head Coach
Count Metta World Peace among those who would like to see LaVar Ball on an NBA sideline.
The former NBA All-Star recently told TMZ Sports that he believes the outspoken father of Los Angeles Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball should pursue coaching:
"He should be a coach one day," World Peace said. "Coach college, coach his kids, coach pros somewhere. He should get his skills up. He should be an NBA coach one day."
In November 2018, LaVar made headlines by telling Sky Sports' Declan Olley that he could coach Lonzo and the Lakers "with my eyes closed." With Los Angeles having failed to make the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, Luke Walton (97-147 in three seasons as coach) finds himself on the hot seat.
World Peace doesn't believe LaVar should replace Walton, though.
"Now I wouldn't say for the Lakers," World Peace noted. "He's said some things where he thought he should be, um, coaching his son at the Lakers and all his kids should be playing together. I don't want to be with that at all. I think a lot of that is a pile of crap, a pile of big crap."
LaVar is on the record calling Walton "the worst coach" and called for a coaching change prior to the trade deadline back in February, saying Walton doesn't know how to utilize Lonzo:
Surprisingly, LaVar did not talk himself up as the answer to Los Angeles' problems while making the rounds at Fox Sports earlier this year. Instead, he made it clear that he believes Lakers assistant Brian Shaw should get a look.
LaVar does not have any sort of NBA coaching experience, but he did spotlight as the head coach of Prienu Vytautas when his sons LiAngelo and LaMelo played overseas in Lithuania last year.
World Peace noted that he would clash with LaVar but said he would play for him:
"But what I do believe is he's a passionate guy. He should learn how to be a head coach. He should go through the NBA's coaching program. ... As long as he can take criticism from his players, I think he should go through the program and be a coach. It seems like that's what he wants. But sometimes, you can't be a boss from Day 1, right? He loves basketball. He's a hell of a marketer."
Having an NBA champion in his corner isn't a bad thing for LaVar.
