ESPN
If LaVar Ball wants to talk to the media he’s going to have to do it outside of the Staples Center. According to ESPN, the Lakers are enforcing what many employees in the arena are calling the “LaVar Ball rule” which basically forbids the media from interviewing friends and family of players in the tunnel after games.
Via ESPN
In what many employees at Staples Center view as the “LaVar Ball rule,” this season the Los Angeles Lakers are enforcing “an existing policy” that no longer allows members of the media to congregate in a section of the arena among family and associates of players after games.
Family, friends and agents wait for players in the seats behind the basket closest to the visiting team’s locker room at the conclusion of games. Interviews conducted in that designated area and near the tunnel leading to the arena corridors are now forbidden.
In prior years, media socialized and, at times, interviewed individuals in that sector without interference. If a media member is recognized in that area now, arena security or Laker staffers direct that he or she leave the area.
LaVar Ball, the father of Lakers rookie point guard Lonzo Ball, is also not permitted to do interviews on the court, something he did on opening night after the LA Clippers defeated the Lakers 108-92. The league’s rule is that an individual must be credentialed in order to enter onto the court. LaVar Ball hasn’t done an on-court interview since.
It was only a matter of time until the Lakers put a muzzle on LaVar after he fired several shots at head coach Luke Walton a few weeks ago. We’ll see what LaVar has to say about the Lakers new media rule.