Stephen A. Smith believes Lakers rookie point guard Lonzo Ball will face stiff competition from players in the league because of the outlandish comments made by his father, LaVar Ball. On Thursday's edition of ESPN's First Take, Smith stated that while Lonzo is a great talent, his father "deposited some checks his son can't cash."
"I think that he's going to be box office from the standpoint that people are going to be incredibly curious about what they see from him," Smith said after being asked if Lonzo will live up to the hype surrounding him. "He's got a high basketball IQ. He's a cerebral ballplayer. He's got skills. I'm not trying to take anything away from him, and I'm rooting for the brother. But I think that his father has basically deposited some checks his son can't cash."
While Smith believes players don't take LaVar's comments hyping up Lonzo as "malicious," he also thinks players are looking to embarrass the 2nd overall pick in the 2017 draft. "Listen I know players that have looked him in the face and say when they go against him they're going to drop 60," Smith said. "You got dudes throughout the national basketball association who are literally salivating at the mouth to get a hold of this young brother because of how much trash his father has talked."
Check out the First Take clip above.
