LaVar Ball refused to thank President Donald Trump for freeing his son and two other UCLA players from Chinese prison, saying the commander-in-chief didn't actually help.
It turns out Daddy Ball may have been onto something.
ESPN published a lengthy account Friday of the shoplifting episode, which resulted in three UCLA players, including LaMelo Ball, getting detained in China. Shortly after they were released, White House chief of staff John Kelly claimed Trump intervened on their behalf.
"Mr. Kelly said Mr. Trump's intervention, as well as diplomatic efforts by State Department diplomats, led to the reduction of the charges to the equivalent of misdemeanors as well as the release of the three players to their hotel, where they were placed under temporary house arrest," the New York Times reported.
Shoplifting in China is a serious offense, carrying a maximum 10-year prison sentence. If the case went to trial, it's almost certain Ball and his ex-teammates would've been behind bars. Prosecutors in China enjoy a 99.2 percent conviction rate.
With those facts in mind, Trump was looking for some gratification from LaVar Ball. When Trump didn't get it, he tweeted that he should have left the kids in prison.
But there was a problem with that retroactive threat: the UCLA kids were apparently already scheduled to return home before Trump even made his way to China.
"The players were already checked into the hotel before the public discovered they were arrested," a team source told ESPN. "They also were not under house arrest. It was our decision to keep them at the hotel until the situation was resolved. The charges were dropped, they weren't reduced, and that happened two days before we heard from Gen. Kelly."
Now that the facts are in, it seems like Trump was lying here. When would he ever do something like that?
