Who Is LaVar Ball? A Brief Intro to the Newest Homeschool Dad

An outspoken father made national headlines recently when he announced he would homeschool his youngest son, who scored 92 points in a basketball game last season.

LaVar Ball attracted widespread sports media attention and criticism in 2017 for making incredible claims and bold predictions regarding his three talented sons. His oldest son, Lonzo, was the first round pick of the Los Angeles Lakers and the second overall selection in this year’s NBA draft. His middle son, LiAngelo, is a freshman at UCLA, while LaMelo is a junior in high school, who was attending Chino Hills High School in California until his father made the decision to pull him from public school.

“I’m not dealing with the coach over there,” LaVar told ESPN. “I’m not dealing with the administration over there…so therefore I’m going to homeschool him and make him the best basketball player ever.”

True to his personality, Lonzo responded emphatically when ESPN employee Romana Shelburne asked him if he was going to teach his son himself.

“Don’t act like I can’t be educated, too,” LaVar said. “I can teach him anything: math, science, sociology. The only difference is with Melo, when he does geography, he’s really going to be there. He’s going to be in China, Italy. He’s going to be all over there.”

In addition, when asked if it felt like a risk to have LaMelo miss out on the events of a traditional high school, LaVar quickly questioned, “Miss out on what?”

Meanwhile, away from the cameras, 16-year-old LaMelo said he was looking forward to the homeschool lifestyle “because I can spend all my time now and dedication into [basketball] instead of going to school and doing book work.”