LaVar Ball expresses his happiness with Los Angeles Lakers trading Lonzo and calls New Orleans Pelicans ‘one of the best teams’

LaVar Ball joined Stephen A. Smith out in ESPN’s studio on today’s episode of First Take and he uttered a few words that should put New Orleans Pelicans fans at ease.

After he stated that the Los Angeles Lakers let go of one of the best things they had going for them, LaVar claims that his initial statement some months back of not wanting to see his son traded to the Pelicans was because he was playing chess, not checkers. He wanted Laker management to do precisely the opposite of what he had publicly said and trade his son, not keep him in Los Angeles.

“It’s exactly what I wanted them to do,” says LaVar. “One of the best teams he going to play on is New Orleans. Great. With him at the one, Aaron at the 2 {assume he meant Jrue Holiday}, Ingram at the 3, Zion at the 4, Julius at the 5.”

During this interview, LaVar also praised Alvin Gentry, the head coach of the Pelicans, but he made sure to throw a few more daggers in the direction of Los Angeles. The one phrase that stood out the most was, “Cause it’s raggedy over there {Los Angeles}. Even the writing is on the new shirt that he is going to wear. It says ‘No L.A.’ on it.”

So, from this day moving forward, Nola can also mean no Los Angeles. Got that? :)