Michael Jordan to LaVar Ball: I’d beat you on one leg

Surprise: Michael Jordan doesn’t think LaVar Ball could beat him in a game of one-on-one.

On Monday, five months after the outspoken father of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball made the ridiculous claim to USA TODAY that he would “kill” Jordan back in his “heyday,” Jordan responded during a Q&A session at his basketball camp in California.

“You’ve got to understand the source,” Jordan said. “He played, I think, college, maybe? He averaged 2.2 points per game. Really? It doesn’t dignify an answer, but I’m going to give it to you because you asked the question. I don’t think he could beat me if I was one-legged.”

Jordan also took time during the session to discuss Ball’s highly-criticized parenting style.

“Every parent is very proud of their kids. I don’t discourage that,” Jordan said. “I think (Lonzo) is really good. I think he has the potential to be a good player. His father is very proud of him — of all his kids, I would assume — like any father would be very proud of their kids. But I would assume, or I would say, if I had to sit down and talk to him right now … I’d tell him to shut up and just let the kids play.”

The 49-year-old Ball, who has quickly become a household name in the basketball world, isn’t the only one who recently said he could get the best of Jordan. Charlotte Hornets rookie Malik Monk made a similar — albeit much less outlandish — claim on Saturday when discussing a potential one-on-one matchup.

“He’s pretty old right now,” Monk said of Jordan, via The Charlotte Observer. “I think I can get him.”

While he may be 54, it must be noted that Jordan — y’know, the guy who’s widely considered to be the greatest basketball player of all-time — beat a 19-year-old Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in a game of one-on-one back in 2013, and we doubt much has changed since then.

“It was hard for me,” Kidd-Gilchrist said at the time. “I lost. He’s the greatest man that ever played the game.”

Source: AJ Neuharth-Keusch| USA Today