LaVar Ball threatened to remove his AAU team from the court for the second time in a week on Friday, but the referee he was upset with ended up leaving instead.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello was in attendance for Ball’s Big Baller Brand team’s game against Team BBC, and he witnessed Ball pointing to the crowd and saying “we need to get someone else in here” after he was given a technical.
LaVar Ball goes CRAZY and gets another tech pic.twitter.com/MOtUS5MFD1
— Overtime (@overtime) July 28, 2017
The ref, who happened to be a female, had also officiated Ball’s team’s game on Wednesday. Because there was a “history” between Ball and the ref, Adidas decided to replace the official after Ball threatened to pull his team off the court.
Adidas said it was their decision to replace the referee. Said there was a history between ref and LaVar — she officiated Wednesday's game.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) July 28, 2017
Ball later spoke about the issues he had with the ref.
“I get that she’s trying to break into the refereeing thing, but just giving techs and calling fouls is no way to do it,” he said. “I know she’s trying to say, ‘I gave him a tech, I’m strong.’ That ain’t got nothing to do with it. Just call the game. If you’re gonna be qualified, you better be in shape and better know the game. She’s bad on both of them. She’s not in shape and she’s not calling the game right.”
Ball insisted his issues with the official had nothing to do with her being a woman.
“She’s trying to make a name for herself so she’s walking around like, ‘You know, I’m the only woman in here.’ Yeah, we get it,” he added. “I don’t care if you’re a woman or a man, just be good at what you do. She need to stay in her lane, because she ain’t ready for this.”
Last Saturday, Ball pulled his entire team off the court and forfeited in a tournament game they were winning 69-60 at the time. He offered a different reason for his disgust with that officiating crew.
