It's time to revisit Trump Feud #458, subsection, black, subtitle, athletes : The President vs. LaVar Ball. After UCLA basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill, and Cody Riley were arrested for shoplifting in China, Trump was quick to seek credit for engineering their release.



This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2017

But Ball’s father, LaVar Ball, downplayed the president's role in securing his son’s freedom (“Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out”), and Trump went on the attack.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence - IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair. Just think.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2017

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

...LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It’s a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2017

Now, a new report from ESPN has revealed that LaVar Ball might not have been wrong to withhold his thanks from the president. According to a source close to the UCLA basketball team, "The situation was already resolved by the time we heard about Trump's involvement."

"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… The players were already checked into the hotel before the public discovered they were arrested," [the] team source said. "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."

So we might have to strike "securing the freedom of some lanky, light-fingered youths" from the already short list of Trump's accomplishments.

Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io