{"id":53396,"date":"2017-06-28T16:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T23:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=53396"},"modified":"2017-06-28T14:11:24","modified_gmt":"2017-06-28T21:11:24","slug":"lavar-ball-antics-dont-change-oddsmakers-view-lakers-chances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lavar-ball-antics-dont-change-oddsmakers-view-lakers-chances\/","title":{"rendered":"LaVar Ball Antics Don\u2019t Change Oddsmakers View of Lakers Chances"},"content":{"rendered":"

The circus that is LaVar Ball has made it to the Big Top, but not everyone is buying a ticket to the show. After proclaiming on draft day that his son, Lonzo, who was picked second by the Los Angeles Lakers, would lead the team to the playoffs in his first season, oddsmakers were not moved by the prediction.<\/p>\n

\"Lavar
Lonzo Ball and his father, LaVar, have made an impact with the NBA and the Lakers, but not on sportsbooks, who don\u2019t believe his fathers prediction that his son will lead the team to the playoffs. (Image: USA Today)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLonzo Ball is going to take the Lakers to the playoffs his first year,\u201d he said on ESPN before his son was selected. \u201cCome see me when he does. I\u2019ll say I told you so.\u201d<\/p>\n

The storied Southern California team has not been to the postseason in four years. They finished last season with the third worst record in the league at 26-56.<\/p>\n

The Westgate LV SuperBook<\/a> is not swayed and the posted odds show the skepticism. They have the team as a minus-700 to play after the regular season and a plus-500 to make it.<\/p>\n

Rebuilding Year<\/h2>\n

The team began its slide while an aging Kobe Bryant was in the twilight of his career. His retirement in 2016 allowed for the team to get away from chasing pricey free agents and focus more on young talent.<\/p>\n

There was a management change as well. General Manager, Mitch Kupchak was out, as well as Team President, Jim Buss. Hall of Famer Magic Johnson took over operations and named Bryant\u2019s former agent, Rob Pelinka as general manager.<\/p>\n

While those moves, as well as picking Ball in the draft, won\u2019t change the squad\u2019s fortunes right away. Westgate LV SuperBook\u2019s manager, Jeff Sherman told the Las Vegas Review Journal success is still a ways away.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think Lonzo Ball is one of the most ready-made rookies coming in,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cHe will have a big impact and make everyone better. But it\u2019s his first year and he\u2019s going to have to get adjusted to the speed and size of these players. It\u2019s going to take him some time to get acclimated.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bravado or Blarney?<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t tell that to the proud papa, who is reminiscent of meddling parents, such as Venus and Serena Williams\u2019 dad, Richard, or Earl Woods, father of Tiger Woods<\/a>. Ball is not one to shy away from an outlandish statement and said in March Lonzo would be a better player than Golden State\u2019s Steph Curry.<\/p>\n

When his son\u2019s team lost to Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament in April, Ball told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin it was because of his white teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cRealistically you can’t win no championship with three white guys because the foot speed is too slow,” Ball said. \u201cI told Lonzo \u2014\u2018One of these games you might need to go for 30 or 40 points.’ It turned out that was the one game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of his other comments have not been as controversial, but they were equally provocative. He proclaimed that he would have beaten Michael Jordan one-on-one if the two played in their primes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The circus that is LaVar Ball has made it to the Big Top, but not everyone is buying a ticket to the show. After proclaiming on draft day that his son, Lonzo, who was picked second by the Los Angeles Lakers, would lead the team to the playoffs in his first season, oddsmakers were not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":53397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLaVar Ball Antics Don\u2019t Change Oddsmakers View of Lakers Chances<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LaVar Ball, the father of No. 2 NBA Draft pick, Lonzo Ball, declared his son will lead Lakers to playoffs, but sportsbooks are unconvinced.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LaVar Ball Antics Don\u2019t Change Oddsmakers View of Lakers Chances\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LaVar Ball, the father of No. 2 NBA Draft pick, Lonzo Ball, declared his son will lead Lakers to playoffs, but sportsbooks are unconvinced.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lavar-ball-antics-dont-change-oddsmakers-view-lakers-chances\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-28T23:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-28T21:11:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/lonzoball2-7.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"433\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lavar-ball-antics-dont-change-oddsmakers-view-lakers-chances\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lavar-ball-antics-dont-change-oddsmakers-view-lakers-chances\/\",\"name\":\"LaVar Ball Antics Don\u2019t Change Oddsmakers View of Lakers Chances\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lavar-ball-antics-dont-change-oddsmakers-view-lakers-chances\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lavar-ball-antics-dont-change-oddsmakers-view-lakers-chances\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/lonzoball2-7.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-28T23:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-28T21:11:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"LaVar Ball, the father of No. 2 NBA Draft pick, Lonzo Ball, declared his son will lead Lakers to playoffs, but sportsbooks are unconvinced.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lavar-ball-antics-dont-change-oddsmakers-view-lakers-chances\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lavar-ball-antics-dont-change-oddsmakers-view-lakers-chances\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lavar-ball-antics-dont-change-oddsmakers-view-lakers-chances\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/lonzoball2-7.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/lonzoball2-7.jpg\",\"width\":770,\"height\":433,\"caption\":\"Lonzo Ball and his father, LaVar, have made an impact with the NBA and the Lakers, but not on sportsbooks, who don\u2019t believe father\u2019s prediction that his son will lead the team to the playoffs. 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