'Luckiest man in the world': LaVar Ball has 3 sons in the NBA and tells ABC11 all about it

The 2020-21 NBA season begins December 22 and the only person probably more excited than the actual NBA players is LaVar Ball.

Ball's dream came true earlier this month when LiAngelo Ball signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Pistons, which came on the heels of the Charlotte Hornets taking youngest son LaMelo Ball with the third overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft. After preaching that he would have all three sons in the league, it happened. (Lonzo Ball is entering his fourth season in the league and second with the New Orleans Pelicans after being traded by the Los Angeles Lakers).

ABC11 sat down with the colorful, controversial Ball via Zoom for a one-on-one conversation about the accomplishment that he said was a foregone conclusion.

"I feel good all the time because I'm right all the time. It never changes. I never be like, oh I feel bad or I feel wrong. nope, I'm all good," Ball said. "I knew they were going in, that was a goal for all my boys to get to the league. That's what me and my wife did, we got them right where they're supposed to be."

Ball said there's no need to sit down and reflect with his sons about the accomplishment. He went on to say he'd been telling his sons all along that they were born to go pro.

"I've been telling them since they were babies somebody has to be better than (Michael) Jordan -- why not you?" Ball said. "I hate to tell people I'm so good, but I'm also the luckiest man in the world. That's just me, and I'm having a great time."

'I'M GOING TO HAVE THREE MON-STARS'

Ball said he knew this was going to happen before he even got married.

"Stop it," Ball said. "Like I told y'all before, before they came out the womb, why you think I went and got my wife? I said, I'm going to have three mon-stars."

Ball has had sharp words about the NCAA and used both of his younger sons as examples that you don't need the NCAA system to make it to the league. Both LiAngelo Ball and LaMelo Ball played overseas and from there went to the NBA.

"If you're talented, they will find you," LaVar Ball said. "What happened was my boys just kept playing, so guess what, they just sharpened up their tools for when the right opportunity presented itself and they're already ready."

LaMELO MORE POPULAR THAN JORDAN?

LaVar Ball said Charlotte was a perfect fit for LaMelo because of the team's famous owner.

"He fits into the scheme perfectly," Ball said. "Why? You're under the tutelage of the greatest of all time besides me. If you don't come to me, then you've got to go to Jordan. And what better person to learn from ...(Michael) Jordan has been through those situations so he knows what my son is about."

What he means by that, Ball said, is that LaMelo, who hasn't yet played a game in the NBA, is coming into the league more popular than Jordan did.

"People say 'why are you saying that LaVar? No, he didn't,'" Ball said. "If Jordan was more popular than my son, he would be with Portland right now. No, with social media, my son is going to be more popular. It's the social media era. That's what people don't get. This ain't the same era."

The 53-year-old said that if Jordan could find a way to get all three of his sons to Charlotte, it would be trouble: "Watch out!"

As for the Ball who actually is in Charlotte, the elder Ball praised LaMelo's work ethic, something that fans will surely appreciate.

LaVar Ball said he calls LaMelo his "one-more-time-man. "Son, let's all make one more shot and we get out of here, one more, dad, one more, dad, one more, dad."

"He's super caring. When you love him, he loves you back," Ball said of his youngest son. "I love my boys, but Melo can be getting into the most trouble, but he always checks on me when it's time to go to bed: Dad, you want some Junior Mints, some Raisinets, some doughnuts, some water? Even when he was little. He gives me the most problems, but he loves the hardest and that's what people don't understand. That boy is so loving it's crazy. He's like a double-edged sword."

FAMILY COMES FIRST

Ball said with all three sons in the NBA, he doesn't need to wear any jersey other than his Big Baller Brand jersey: "These triple Bs right here represent my sons."

He said none of them will win a championship until they're all together: "One of them by themselves, they good. Two of them together, they better. Three of them together, they're at their best."

The last time they were all together, they went undefeated in high school, their dad said. Ball noted that letting them play together as grown men would be "amazing."

"They are a close-knit group," Ball said. "At the end of the day, all they got is each other. When me and their momma is gone, all they'll have is each other."

Family comes first, he noted, and he talked about how his own father taught him never to raise a hand in anger at a sibling, something he passed on to his own sons.

And about that one-on-one match with Michael Jordan -- Ball said he hasn't talked to the former UNC and Chicago Bulls legend about scheduling the event ("I'm definitely hollering at him"), something he said he wanted in 2017.

"For folks to see that one-on-one, they better come up with their $200 million pay-per-view, and then we'll play one-on-one," Ball said.