Los Angeles Lakers: LaVar Ball critical of trainer Gunnar Peterson

Los Angeles Lakers trainer, Gunnar Peterson, is the latest person that LaVar Ball has been critical of.

The Los Angeles Lakers and LaVar Ball had an interesting relationship. Los Angeles knew what they were getting into when they selected Lonzo Ball with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. Not only were they getting an excellent point guard, they were getting his outspoken father along with him.

LaVar was critical of the Lakers a few times during the season. At one point, the team asked LaVar to tone down his criticisms of the team, specifically, head coach Luke Walton. LaVar had previously said that Walton had lost the team, but some of those quotes seem to have been taken out of context.

Since then, LaVar was relatively quiet, at least for his standards. He didn’t say much more about the team the remainder of the season, spending a lot of time in Lithuania with his younger sons, LiAngelo and LaMelo. However, once the Lakers season ended, LaVar has been heard from more.

In exit interviews, Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka both said that the front office and LaVar had a good relationship. LaVar likes the relationship he has with the team.

In classic LaVar form, he also managed to make some outlandish claims. His most recent claim was that Lonzo is a better player than Kawhi Leonard. Lonzo had a solid rookie season, but he has a long way to go before he is on the level of an NBA Finals MVP.

LaVar also gave an honest scouting report of Lonzo and in a separate interview said that Lonzo would be willing to take less money on his next contract to help the team. However, his latest discussion he was critical of the Lakers, again.

LaVar recently spoke with HoopsHype’s Alex Kennedy and was critical of Lakers trainer, Gunnar Peterson. LaVar was not happy about Lonzo missing 30 games in his rookie season and placed the blame on the Lakers’ trainer.

"“My expectation for Lonzo is for him to be twice as good as he was this year, and to be more healthy,” he said. “He understands, he went through it. If you’re going to be doing those [workouts with] rubber-bands like that dude Gunnar has him doing, that [is] bulls–t training. That’s what I call it. S–t, he wasn’t like that when I brought him over there. When he first came [to the Lakers], he never got hurt. He was never hurt.”"

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It will be interesting to see how the Lakers handle this, and how much more they are willing to put up with. The team gave LaVar plenty of chances during the regular season, and for the most part, he obliged. However, the team cannot like that he is once again being critical of someone on the staff.

The organization is hoping that Lonzo can be healthier in his second season. They hope that bulking up, adding strength and muscle in the offseason will result in better durability during the season.

That is what LaVar also has in mind.

"“It’s about being strong and durable,” he said. “If you’re training the right way, you’re going to get that. But everybody acts like it’s a special thing like, ‘Okay, this guy got big because he was [training] under this guy.’ No! Either you’re going to do it or you’re not. And a lot of people come in the [league] young not lifting weights. My boys were bred on lifting weights. Our whole damn family is buff.”"

Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma said that Lonzo has been lifting more consistently since the season ended. That is good news, as some added size can’t hurt Lonzo, who was listed at 6’6″ and only 190 pounds.

We saw firsthand what improvements to your body can do. Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle both had great offseason regiments last summer and had career-seasons. They tied with Kuzma for the team lead with 16.1 points per game.

Next: Lonzo Ball's Top 5 Games In 2017-18

The Lakers and LaVar are hoping that Lonzo can make a similar jump if he puts in the work this offseason.

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