Luke Walton isn’t worried about LaVar Ball, says ‘my dad's got a big personality too’

When approached awkwardly in some type of parking lot by a TMZ reporter, Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach Luke Walton was unwilling to guarantee the team would draft UCLA guard Lonzo Ball next month.

Instead, Walton told the reporter he would have to ask Lakers President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson and General Manager Rob Pelinka about who the team was drafting, but the team selecting Ball with the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft seems like an inevitability at this point.

The primary concern some have about that choice is Ball’s outspoken father, LaVar Ball. Walton himself has acknowledged that the team will have scouts look into LaVar Ball, but even still, he told TMZ that fathers like that don’t worry him for one simply reason.

“My dad's got a big personality too, so I'm used to that type of stuff,” Walton said with a smile, but he wasn’t willing to draw any further parallels between his own father and Lonzo Ball’s.

“They're both big personalities, they're both outspoken but that's where I'd say the comparison [ends],” Walton said.

Walton isn’t wrong about his father, Bill Walton, being a big personality, although in a totally different way than LaVar Ball.

While LaVar Ball is brash and willing to say pretty much anything to pump up his son or get attention for their brand of pricey t-shirts and $500 knock-off Kobes, Bill Walton is more known for going on bizarre, hilarious tangents while ostensibly commentating on a basketball game. They’re both loud, just in different ways.

However, when looking at the two as far as accomplishments go, there is really no comparison:

Grant Goldberg

Even with all of LaVar Ball’s accomplishments, it seems fair to say Luke Walton isn’t exactly ready for him to join the coaching staff. When asked by TMZ whether or not he’d be letting LaVar Ball into practices next season, Luke Walton ended the interview with a simple answer.

"I haven't got that far yet."

All quotes transcribed via TMZ. Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.