Ever since LaVar Ball criticized Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton, the Lakers have won three straight games, including last night's 93-81 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
LaVar had called out Walton during an interview with ESPN's Jeff Goodman, saying he's too young to coach and that his son Lonzo, as well as others, didn't want to play for him.
With the Spurs in Los Angeles last night, Gregg Popovich was asked how he felt about the LaVar Ball x Luke Walton situation. The longtime Spurs head coach showed support for Walton while also brushing off LaVar Ball as, "just another fan in the peanut gallery with an opinion, which is meaningless."
Per ESPN's Michael C. Wright,
“Whenever anyone says anything about another individual or about the quality of another individual, or what they’re doing, I think the first thing to look at is the substance and gravitas of the source that speaks. Just stopping at that point would tell you that you don’t need to listen or go any further. It’s just another fan in the peanut gallery with an opinion, which is meaningless.
“Luke [Walton] has been schooled in this game from the time he was a little kid. And he doesn’t even know what he knows probably, just by osmosis, whether it was living at home, [or] in school as a player. He’s had tremendous experience. As a player, he wasn’t the best athlete in the world. But those are the guys that sometimes understand the game better because it comes a little tougher to them. They understand what wins and loses, what they have to do to get an advantage and really understand the game, which he does. He inherently understands the game, and not everybody does. And then the icing on the cake, he gets to spend a few years up with Steve [Kerr] at Golden State with a great organization, and a great group.
“So, he’s way more than ready to handle this situation. But it’s a situation that’s gonna take time. It’s a process. And it certainly doesn’t need any outside chatter from people who don’t have a clue and haven’t gotten over themselves.”
Several NBA coaches have come to Walton's defense in the wake of the Big Baller's comments, including Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle and the Detroit Pistons' Stan Van Gundy. Both men bashed ESPN for publishing LaVar's comments in the first place.