Dan Bickley

The Republic | azcentral.com

Sports and parents don’t always mix. You see it on Little League fields and inside high school gymnasiums, where overzealous adults embarrass themselves and scar their children. Even professional athletes aren’t immune to obnoxious, overbearing fathers.

But we’ve never seen anyone like LaVar Ball - con artist, loudmouth, shoe salesman and the biggest obstacle his son will face in the NBA.

“You saw how bad (the University of) Kentucky wanted to kick his butt during the NCAA Tournament,” TNT analyst Charles Barkley said. “And they were just college kids.”

Ball has been a goldmine for outlandish, offensive content. He’s risen to fame at a time when incivility defines and captivates America. The platform he’s been granted reflects poorly on all of us, and Ball hasn’t wasted a minute of airtime.

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He’s claimed that his son, Lonzo, will be better than Warriors star Steph Curry. He said that Michael Jordan couldn’t come into the NBA with his own brand, including shoes that cost $495 a pair. Just imagine what will happen when his firstborn becomes a millionaire.

This should not deter the Suns. Even with just one year of seasoning at UCLA, Lonzo Ball would be a perfect addition to the uprising on Planet Orange. He has great court vision. He is reserved and quiet and seems to be an exemplary teammate. He is also a transcendent facilitator on the court, and he could do for Devin Booker what Steve Nash once did for Amar’e Stoudemire.

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There are also many things the organization can do to mute the high-volume nonsense of a delusional, disruptive parent. Every team interested in acquiring Lonzo will likely hold a pre-draft meeting with the father, to set ground rules and seek the true nature of the man.

Every NBA player is afforded three tickets to a home game. In theory, a team can choose where LaVar Ball will sit so he’s not in earshot of the coaching staff. On the road, the visiting team has access to 40 tickets, and a player typically receives only two free seats.

An NBA franchise can also restrict a parent or relative from attending practice. They typically grant access to the family room, which is located directly across from the home team’s locker room, during games. But a team can monitor and react to behavior that isn’t conducive to the team.

The Suns have an open-door policy until media day, at which time the practice court becomes a sanctuary. Outsiders are not allowed, no matter how many times they’ve been interviewed on television. The Suns would also benefit from having Earl Watson as head coach, a man who also played at UCLA, who strongly believes a basketball team is its own family.

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There is a chance the Suns will fall in the NBA draft lottery and not have access to young Lonzo. Some believe LaVar Ball is trying to scare away all suitors with outrageous rhetoric so his son can be drafted by the hometown Lakers, thus becoming the next Magic Johnson in one of the NBA’s largest markets.

That would certainly help the future of the family’s shoe business, where product isn’t exactly flying off the shelves.

There’s little doubt that Ball has done a great disservice to his child. NBA veterans will relish the opportunity to humble the father by vanquishing and ostracizing the son. Every NBA star with a shoe endorsement contract will be further motivated to diminish the impact of Ball, thereby lowering the value of his brand of footwear. That’s a lot for any rookie to overcome, particularly a player who wasn’t that great in college.

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I can also tell you the Suns have interest in Ball, as they should. They believe his father to be a minor red flag and not a deal-breaker. But they will not allow LaVar’s mouth or his presence to be a distraction on any level.

We’ve seen this too often in professional sports. The bizarre and occasional racist rantings of Richard Williams made it hard to embrace his two daughters, Serena and Venus. Earl Woods once predicted his son Tiger “will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity.” Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Mary Pierce, Jennifer Capriati and Jelena Dokic carried horror stories of their paternal influence.

LaVar Ball is different. He’s betting on himself and blazing a new trail. But if he’s really a marketing genius and not to be underestimated, he’ll realize it’s time to start lacing up sneakers and shut his mouth for good.

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Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him on twitter.com/dan.bickley. Listen to “Bickley and Marotta” weekdays from 12-2 p.m. on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station.