The “Inside The NBA” studio analysts redefined the meaning of throwing shade at LaVar Ball’s basketball-playing sons Thursday night.
What began innocently enough, with host Ernie Johnson teeing up the highlights of Lonzo Ball’s Lakers playing against the Wizards, quickly turned into a cornucopia of jokes centered around LiAngelo Ball’s arrest for shoplifting sunglasses at a Louis Vuitton store in China.
“Do you think he went shopping in DC?” Shaquille O’Neal asked of the oldest Ball son.
“Better go to the Sunglass Hut,” Charles Barkley said. “I guarantee they don’t have security at the Sunglass Hut.”
Johnson tried to steer his panelists back to the highlights, but O’Neal, Barkley and Kenny Smith went on to mock the Balls with sunglasses-themed jokes and puns for three full games of highlights.
“I will say this about the Lakers,” Smith quipped. “Their future is so bright, they’ve got to wear shades.”
At one point, O’Neal started singing “Sunglasses at Night” by Corey Hart. Later in the show, during a bit about O’Neal and Barkley running for president/vice president in 2020, Shaq said, “Vice President Barkley, I’m [going to] be in China for a couple of days. I need you to keep the country safe.”
To which Barkley responded, “Pick me up some sunglasses at Louis Vuitton.”
Lonzo Ball was one of the most anticipated NBA rookies in years, in part because of his father’s incessant self-promotion. Lonzo’s NBA career is off to a rocky start, but having his little brother detained in China has been a black eye for the Big Baller brand.
“Lotta pressure on that young man,” Smith said when the highlight packaged showed Ball sitting on the bench.
“You know where that came from,” Johnson said, referencing LaVar Ball’s antics.
The “Inside the NBA” crew didn’t stop with jokes about LiAngelo. Lonzo was 3 of 12 from the field in the 111-95 loss to the Wizards, and he missed 6 of 7 attempts from beyond the 3-point line. This led to Barkley taking a swipe at Ball’s shooting accuracy.
“Inside The NBA” likes to get comments from social media involved during the show, and one intrepid viewer offered up an analogy they couldn’t pass up: comparing Lonzo’s unique shooting form to Barkley’s awful golf swing.