It’s absolutely no secret that the patriarchs of the Trump and Ball families have a tendency for making news outside of the sphere of their occupations, and so when the two went head-to-head over the controversy surrounding the arrest of LiAngelo Ball and his UCLA teammates Jalen Hill and Cody Riley during a trip to China, the headlines couldn’t stop evolving.
It was United States President Donald Trump who took to his medium of preference to call out Lavar Ball for failing to thank the commander-in-chief- for his role in the safe return of the three boys back to the states after being arrested for shoplifting at the tail end of last year. Lavar Ball would soon respond in an interview that he wasn’t even aware of Trump’s involvement in the situation, not finding any reason why he should have been thanked in the first place.
"If you help, you shouldn't have to say anything," he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. "Let him do his political affairs and let me handle my son and let's just stay in our lane." Now, the latest revolution in this saga is that Lavar Ball may have actually been on to something as a team source from the UCLA men’s basketball team has revealed that President Trump, indeed, had nothing to do with the return of Hill, Riley, and his son.
"The situation was already resolved by the time we heard about Trump's involvement," the UCLA source told ESPN. "That's not to take away from the fact that he got involved, but the players already had their passports back and their flights booked to go home Tuesday night when Gen. Kelly called the players."
Lavar Ball has recently had the most recent laugh, posting the original article in Twitter, doubling down on his refusal to thank President Trump, but given the United States leader’s propensity to never let bygones be bygones, this situation is likely a few tweets from being over.
