In the past year and a half a new family has become known around the sports world — Lavar Ball, the father of three sons, Lonzo, LiAngelo (Gelo) and LaMelo (Melo).

Last year Lonzo became a well-known college basketball star at University of California Los Angeles. This got the family on the map, and as Lonzo was performing well, Lavar started to talk him up and gather hype around this future star.

Lavar was recorded making absurd statements to gain attention. In February during a courtside interview he told reporters, “I’ll tell you right now, he’s better than Steph Curry to me.” A month later he was recorded saying, “To me ‘Zo is the best player in the world. … I don’t know if he can beat (LeBron James and Russell Westbrook) one on one, but I know he can beat them 5 on 5.”

At first look it may seem like he is just being a good father; every father should believe in his children and tell them that they can achieve anything, but to go on live TV and make statements that begin to draw the attention away from his sons and brings it towards himself.

Lavar continued to make absurd statements about Lonzo and garnered much attention, after Lonzo was drafted his younger brother, Gelo, was beginning his first year playing basketball at UCLA, following in Lonzo’s footsteps.

In Gelo’s team trip to China, he and two other teammates was caught shoplifting and were facing multiple years in prison. President Donald Trump saw the issue and stepped in to help. He saw the news of the shoplifting shortly before he was set to dine with Chinese president Xi Jinping. After talking with him, he got the players expedited quickly with no severe punishment and asked for thanks. Lavar then told ESPN, “’They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes.” Implying that shoplifting is no big deal.

What does this message tell all the people that look on the Ball family in the world. They have gathered so much fame so quickly and have lost integrity. Gelo was then suspended indefinitely from UCLA basketball and after he missed the first few games Lavar decided that he was going to pull him out of school. He went on to say that UCLA is suspending his son for too long because of a small problem.

I just don’t understand how UCLA’s punishment did not fit the crime that Gelo committed. What is Lavar teaching his children and more importantly what is he teaching all the future receivers of fame? By pulling his son from UCLA and downplaying a crime, he is almost saying that the rules don’t apply to his family because they are too good for them. He has been put on a platform where him and his sons hold a lot of influence and besides Lonzo, the family is using that platform for worse rather than better. What is LiAngelo telling everyone as he stole the pair of sunglasses from China, they are a multimillion dollar family and they are in no shortage of cash, but by stealing when he clearly has the money to buy the glasses he is telling the world that he just doesn’t care what the prices are and is just going to take whatever he wants.

While having such a big platform to influence the youth and future stars, the Ball family has done a bad job of showing people how to stay humble, be respectful, and show some class in handling all of the pressures that come along with fame.