LaVar Ball disrespects Kyrie Irving’s late mother

LaVar Ball was completely disrespectful, and wrong, when talking about Kyrie Irving’s parents.

I’m all for entrepreneurship, game-changers and people passionate about their kids. That’s what LaVar Ball seemed to be. However, with his latest comment about Kyrie Irving’s upbringing, he’s taken it way too far.

I thought Ball went a bit too far when he spoke on LeBron James’ kids but because I understood the point he was trying to make, I didn’t get up-in-arms about the situation. However, his latest jab was a low-blow.

Here’s a video of Ball’s statements, which he made on FS1’s Undisputed.

Before talking about Irving’s own upbringing, Ball first sought to defend himself from Irving’s critique of his parenting. On Richard Jefferson’s Road Trippin’ Podcast, Irving appeared as a guest on the show and said that he feels like Ball needs to let his son be himself.

Quotes transcribed by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:

"“I’m sorry, LaVar, you’re not going to be in every hotel room that Lonzo is going to be in,” Kyrie said as a guest on Uninterrupted’s “Road Trippin'” podcast hosted by Cleveland Cavaliers veterans Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye. “You’re not going to be everywhere and part of his life as he continues to grow up. You got to let go. He’s 19-years old. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want it to bypass him being a father, but he’s got to let Lonzo be Lonzo for the long haul.”"

Irving went as far as to cite his relationship with his own father, clearly trying to show that he related to Lonzo once upon a time:

"“I had to have a talk with my dad, and I was just like, ‘Man, Dad, I love you, but I’m going to make my own decisions,'” Irving said. “And he told me, when I turn 18, I’m responsible enough for myself to make my own decisions, and he’s going to be there to help along the way. But when I turned 18, like, I got my first tattoo. I got my ear pierced. I just started doing my own thing.”"

However, Ball, who doesn’t want anyone trying to change who he is, was defensive about those statements when he appeared on Undisputed.

Per CavsNation‘s Tomer Azarly:

"You have some young people that’s out here critiquing,” said Ball. “‘Oh LaVar needs to let Lonzo go.’ How you young guys gonna say anything when you ain’t got no kids?”“Like Kyrie?” asks Skip Bayless.“Kyrie, Definitely!” Ball responds. “How you gonna tell me how my son should be when you don”t have a kid?”"

That statement wasn’t really all too bad in and of itself. We’ve all heard some version of this somewhere. It’s like Kevin Durant’s comments about media getting to vote for NBA awards.

Quote transcribed by Sports Illustrated’s Ben Golliver:

"“I think media gets too much power to vote on stuff, quite frankly, that you don’t know a lot about, as much as we [players] know about it”"

The statement was wrong however, as Irving is a father. His daughter Azurie Elizabeth Irving will be 2-years-old in November.

As Ball continued his statement, this is where he took it too far:

Irving’s mother Elizabeth Irving passed from Septis Syndrome at the age of 29 (when Irving was 4-years-old). He talked about the love he has for his mother and the pain it still causes him for The Shared Grief Project in 2015:

ESPN’s Chris Haynes wrote a piece about Irving, his father Drederick and his mother when he was a writer for Cleveland.com in 2015. His father would often compare Irving, whose perspectives on life are more mature than that of his peers, to his mother.

"“Boy, you’re just like your momma.”“Yeah, my dad says that a lot,” Irving said with a smile. “He often reminds me that I’m very similar to her, but he also tries to keep it away from me from the standpoint of that’s my mother. She’s not here so I try to keep it where it is.”"

Center Tristan Thompson had this to add about the relationship between Irving and his father:

"“I know it’s been definitely tough on him, but his dad has been a great role model and has helped him grow as a man and you can see it on the court,” Cavs center Tristan Thompson said."

Reading this, it’s clear that Ball’s statement about Irving’s mother’s absence was ignorant and the statement about his father, who has always been incredibly supportive of Irving, was just as ignorant.

In a story from 2012, ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan got this quote from Irving about his father:

"“He laid out all the necessary steps for me. It was up to me what I did with them.”"

There’s only so much you can defend a person and LaVar Ball is no exception. I’m rooting for Lonzo to succeed and I wish the best for the Ball family, especially Mrs. Tina Ball.

Still, his criticism of Irving’s parents was completely unwarranted. Irving is a special young man on both the court and on a personal level because of his parents, who laid the foundation for him to succeed.

Related Story: Michael Jordan who? LeBron just caught a ghost

What do you think of LaVar Ball’s comments about Kyrie Irving? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.