LaVar Ball downplayed reports that he is feuding with President Donald Trump in an interview on Monday, but he declined to thank the president for helping to get his son, LiAngelo Ball, home from China. 
 
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 “You know where my boy is at right now because of me. Because I spent all that time and love for him,” LaVar Ball said in an interview with CNN Monday evening. “Don't come in one time and think you did something for my son.” 
 
 "I don't have to go around saying thank you to everybody," he added. 
 
 LiAngelo Ball and two other freshman UCLA basketball players -- Jalen Hill and Cody Riley — were arrested in China earlier this month after they reportedly shoplifted items from three different stores, including Louis Vuitton. The players were detained in their hotel in Hangzhou during the president’s 12-day Asian tour. 
 
 "If you help, you shouldn't have to say anything," says LaVar Ball, father of UCLA basketball player LiAngelo Ball, adding, "Let him do his political affairs and let me handle my son, and let's just stay in our lane" https://t.co/CzyFZ2YTO1 pic.twitter.com/1XiXEg6Pl4 — CNN (@CNN) November 21, 2017 
 
 "Just because people say things, they're supposed to be true? Like he stopped them from [serving] 10 years?" the elder Ball said Monday. "Maybe we were doing some talking with some other people before he even got there." 
 
 “If I was going to thank someone, I would probably thank [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping]," he added. 
 
 LaVar Ball, who said his son returned the stolen merchandise and wrote an apology letter, said he did more than Trump to get the players home safely. 
 
 Lucy Nicholson/Reuters 
 
 "I had some people that had boots on the ground that knew the situation when we first jumped on there," Ball said. "I keep those people in mind." 
 
 He also downplayed reports that he and Trump were engaged in a war of words. 
 
 “Why would I be at war with the most powerful man in the world? That's my question,” LaVar Ball said. “What do you mean take on Donald Trump? Take him on for what?” 
 
 LaVar Ball, the father of a basketball player freed from China who also recently ran afoul of the President on Twitter, talks with @ChrisCuomo: "I don't have to go around saying thank you to everybody" https://t.co/2r5gjzKaQa https://t.co/pQmyfEjnvK — CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) November 21, 2017 
 
 Trump indicated that he wanted recognition for his help in securing the release of the players, who he says were facing 10 years in jail, in a tweet last Wednesday. 
 
 The three players, who admitted to shoplifting in a news conference later that day, thanked Trump for his assistance in the case, but LaVar Ball has seemed to downplay Trump's role ever since. 
 
 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 
 
 "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!" Trump wrote in a tweet on Sunday. 
 
 Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017 
 
 "Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful," Trump wrote in a follow-up tweet more than five hours later. ||||| President Donald Trump responded to LaVar Ball on Sunday via Twitter after Ball downplayed Trump's involvement in getting LiAngelo Ball and two other detained UCLA men's basketball players back to the United States last week. 
 
 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 
 
 "Who?" LaVar Ball, the outspoken and divisive father of LiAngelo Ball and Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball, told ESPN's Arash Markazi on Friday when asked about Trump's involvement in the matter. "What was he over there for? Don't tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out." 
 
 UCLA freshmen Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, who had been detained in China on suspicion of shoplifting, landed in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening and addressed the media Wednesday before being indefinitely suspended by the team. 
 
 Trump, who returned late Tuesday from a trip through Asia, raised the players' case with President Xi Jinping of China during a visit to Beijing last week. All three players thanked Trump during Wednesday's news conference after Trump tweeted that the players should thank him for stepping in and helping gain their release. 
 
 Later Sunday, Trump tweeted a second time, doubling down on his position. 
 
 Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017 
 
 The players were arrested and questioned Nov. 7 about stealing from high-end stores, including sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store next to the team's hotel in Hangzhou, where the Bruins had been staying before leaving for Shanghai to face Georgia Tech. 
 
 UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said Wednesday that the players stole from three stores. They were released from custody after posting bail early Nov. 8 on the condition that they surrender their passports; they had been staying at a lakeside hotel in Hangzhou before flying home. 
 
 Editor's Picks LaVar on Trump's role in UCLA incident: 'Who?' LaVar Ball downplayed President Donald Trump's role in getting son LiAngelo and two other UCLA freshmen out of legal trouble following the players' arrests in China, telling ESPN, "Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out." 
 
 Sources: UCLA debates trio's suspension Multiple sources told ESPN that UCLA officials are debating how long to sideline the three suspended freshmen players who admitted to shoplifting during the basketball team's trip to China last week. 1 Related 
 
 "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. Now if you can go back and say when he was 12 years old he was shoplifting and stealing cars and going wild, then that's a different thing. 
 
 "Everybody gets stuck on the negativity of some things, and they get stuck on them too long. That's not me. I handle what's going on, and then we go from there." 
 
 Lakers coach Luke Walton said he had spoken with Lonzo Ball and let him know the team is there for him if he needs anything. 
 
 "He's got more on his plate than I can ever imagine anyone having especially at his age," the Lakers coach said before the Lakers' game against the Nuggets on Sunday. "It is our job to be here and let him know what we support him and believe in him. I don't know where it gets too much and how he reacts to it. I've made a point to talk to him and let him know whether or not he needs it that my belief and our team's belief in him is 100 percent there." 
 
 Walton added: "To me it is all about the fact that we have three young college American students back at home...That is the most important thing. I am not really into the whole argument back and forth. I am just glad they are back home and able to be with their families and get an education." 
 
 When asked before Golden State's win on Sunday over the Nets, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr provided his opinion on both Trump and LaVar Ball. 
 
 "Modern life. People seeking attention, and they're both getting it," Kerr said. "I'm sure both guys are really happy. You know what would help? If all of you [in the media] just stopped covering both of them. Is that possible? You can probably stop covering LaVar. I don't think you can stop covering the president. I don't think that would work. 
 
 "It would be nice for all of us if both of them would just be quiet. That would be great." 
 
 ESPN's Chris Haynes and Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report. ||||| FILE - In this July 7, 2017, file photo, LaVar Ball, father of Los Angeles Lakers' Lonzo Ball and UCLA player LiAngelo Ball, watches the Lakers play the Los Angeles Clippers during an NBA summer league... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this July 7, 2017, file photo, LaVar Ball, father of Los Angeles Lakers' Lonzo Ball and UCLA player LiAngelo Ball, watches the Lakers play the Los Angeles Clippers during an NBA summer league... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — Outspoken basketball dad LaVar Ball questioned the extent of President Donald Trump's involvement in securing his son's release from the custody of Chinese authorities during a combative 20-minute CNN interview on Monday night. 
 
 The president, in tweets Sunday, said he should have left LiAngelo Ball and two other UCLA basketball players accused of shoplifting in jail because LaVar Ball "is unaccepting of what I did for his son" and "very ungrateful!" LaVar Ball has refused to thank Trump. 
 
 LaVar Ball didn't back down during the CNN interview, telling host Chris Cuomo that Trump has more important things to do than ask for his gratitude. 
 
 "That's on your mind, that a father didn't say 'Thank you'? And you're the head of the U.S.? Come on," Ball said. "There's a lot of other things that's going on. Let him do his political affairs and let me handle my son, and let's just stay in our lane." 
 
 Ball suggested that he and Chinese president Xi Jinping had more to do with securing his son's release than the president. 
 
 "Did (Trump) help the boys get out? I don't know. If I was going to thank somebody, I probably would thank President Xi. He's in China. He's the president of China," Ball said, later adding: "I helped my son get out of China. I had some people that had boots on the ground that knew the situation." 
 
 Ball also pushed back against Trump's suggestion that shoplifting "is a very big deal in China." 
 
 "It wasn't a big deal because being raised in South Central LA, I've seen harsher things. I've seen 16, 17-year-old kids that have had to go to jail for life, that were my friends," Ball said. "He wasn't physical. He returned it. He fessed up to it." 
 
 LiAngelo and fellow UCLA freshmen Jalen Hill and Cody Riley have been suspended indefinitely. They were arrested and questioned about stealing from high-end stores next to the team's hotel in Hangzhou, where the Bruins stayed before leaving for Shanghai to play Georgia Tech. All three apologized for their actions and thanked Trump for his role in securing their release, which occurred while the president was traveling in Asia. 
 
 The trio isn't allowed to suit up, be on the bench for home games or travel with the team. Without them, No. 23 UCLA lost to Creighton on Monday night in the Hall of Fame Classic. 
 
 LaVar Ball is attempting to build an empire around the basketball skills of his three sons — Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo, LiAngelo and prep prospect LaMelo — and his own bombastic personality. He started an apparel company, Big Baller Brand, with shoes that retail for $500 or more, and he got in several plugs for his products during the CNN interview. 
 
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– The father of one of the UCLA basketball players freed by China after shoplifting maintains that he's not in a feud with President Trump over the incident, but the president may feel differently. Trump fired off two tweets Wednesday morning critical of LaVar Ball, at times referring to Ball as an "ungrateful fool" and a "poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair." But Trump's first point was to make clear that it was he, the president, who intervened to save the three players. "It wasn’t the White House, it wasn't the State Department, it wasn't father LaVar's so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence - IT WAS ME," he wrote. Trump suggested that without his intervention, UCLA freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill, and Cody Riley would have spent five to 10 years in prison in China for shoplifting sunglasses while on a team trip. The elder Ball has downplayed Trump's role, but on Monday denied reports of a feud. “Why would I be at war with the most powerful man in the world?" he asked, per ABC News. "What do you mean take on Donald Trump? Take him on for what?" Despite the sniping, the men have something in common: reality show experience. Ball In the Family, chronicling the Ball family, streams on Facebook. (Here's what else Trump has had to say on the matter.)