LaVar Ball has revived his Twitter feud with President Trump, hitting out at reports that the president did little to nothing to free his son from Chinese custody after he was arrested for shoplifting.
‘Thanks for what again @RealDonaldTrump? #knowyourfacts #stayinyolane,’ Ball tweeted Saturday, with screengrabs of the the report of the minimal role the president played in freeing three UCLA basketball players being held on shoplifting charges.
Ball’s son LiAngelo, then playing for UCLA, was arrested with two teammates for shoplifting sunglasses in China.
At the time, Trump claimed he engineered the process of getting the trio home – LaVar Ball refused to thank Trump, stating in an interview, ‘If he did anything, I’d thank him.’
LaVar Ball, patriarch of the Ball basketball family, had harsh words for President Trump on Twitter regarding his son’s role in a shoplifting scandal in China
‘Thank you for what again?’ – LaVar Ball hit out at Trump on Twitter Saturday
Trump then stated he ‘should have left them in jail’ in reference to the players.
Trump was visiting China when the incident with the UCLA players took place, and accepted praise for working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to free the players. However, Trump’s role wasn’t exactly what he made it out to be in the situation, according to an ESPN report.
Trump took umbrage to the fact that Ball refused to thank him for his son’s release in this November tweet
‘The situation was already resolved by the time we heard about Trump’s involvement,’ one UCLA team source said.
‘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. [John] Kelly called the players.’
‘The players were already checked into the hotel before the public discovered they were arrested,’ the UCLA source told ESPN.
Trump stated that he himself was responsible for freeing three UCLA basketball player, including LiAngelo Ball, from Chinese custody after stealing sunglasses
Ball (above in blue) refused to thank Trump for freeing his son in the fall, calling him a ‘poor man’s Don King’
‘They also were not under house arrest. It was our decision to keep them at the hotel until the situation was resolved.
‘The charges were dropped, they weren’t reduced, and that happened two days before we heard from Gen. Kelly.’
LiAngelo Ball was arrested with his UCLA teammates Jalen Hill and Cody Riley.
Soon after the incident, LaVar Ball pulled his son LiAngelo out of school, and brokered a contract with a professional team in Lithuiania for both LiAngelo and his younger brother, LaMelo.
Their older brother, Lonzo, currently plays for the LA Lakers.
Jalen Hill (left) LiAngelo Ball (center) and Cody Riley (right) were the three players at the center of the scandal (seen here holding a press conference in Los Angeles in November after the incident)
Following the scandal, LaVar pulled LiAngelo out of college and brokered contracts for him and his younger brother LaMelo with a Lithuanian basketball team