A clearly frustrated President Trump raged over Twitter this afternoon at the father of a UCLA basketball player who downplayed Trump’s importance in getting his son released from shoplifting charges in China...
Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017
As a reminder, LaVar's son, LiAngelo, and two other players were arrested and accused of shoplifting from a Louis Vuitton store while the UCLA basketball team was on a trip to China for its season-opening game.
The players faced potential jail sentences for the charge, but Trump reportedly spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping about resolving the situation. The players were released, and landed in the United States last week.
Trump took credit for their release, and questioned in a tweet whether the players would thank him.
The players subsequently held a press conference last week and apologized for the incident and thanked Trump.
However, as The Hill reports, ESPN on Friday asked LaVar Ball, the outspoken father of LiAngelo and Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball, about Trump’s role in bringing his son back to the United States.
"Who?" Ball responded.
"What was he over there for? Don't tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out."
"As long as my boy's back here, I'm fine," LaVar Ball told ESPN.
"I'm happy with how things were handled. A lot of people like to say a lot of things that they thought happened over there. Like I told him, 'They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes.'
I'm from L.A. I've seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. My son has built up enough character that one bad decision doesn't define him."