LaVar Ball's feud with Donald Trump earns him $13 million in free publicity in 6days (Details, pics)

LaVar Ball's feud with President Donald Trump has actually paid off as his Big Baller Brand sees $13.2 million worth of free digital and TV ads within the last week.

The outspoken father of LiAngelo Ball, one of three UCLA basketball players arrested in China after being accused of shoplifting earlier this month, has been feuding with the president since his interview after his son's release.

And according to ESPN's sports business reporter Darren Rovell, Trump may have inadvertently given LaVar Ball's Big Baller Brand millions in free publicity.

Apex Marketing Group president Eric Smallwood estimated that the ad value gained by the Big Baller Brand since Monday is worth more than $13 million dollars.

'This back and forth with Donald Trump has extended the brand awareness outside of just sports,' Smallwood told Yahoo Sports.'

People who don't follow sports are starting to get more awareness of the brand. To have that reaction from someone as high up as Trump, it has definitely helped [Ball] reach a larger audience,' Smallwood added.

The feud all started shortly after LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill were arrested after stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store near the UCLA team hotel in Hangzhou, China, on November 6.Six days later Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. At some point during his 12-day trip to Asia, Trump said that he discussed the arrest of the three players.

On November 14 the players were told the charges had been withdrawn and they boarded a flight to LA.

A day after they arrived in the US, Trump tweeted: 'Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!'That same day, Ball, Riley and Hill met with the media at a news conference on UCLA's campus, accepted responsibility for their actions and apologized. They all thanked Trump in their remarks.

When asked about his thoughts on Trump's help in releasing his shoplifting son from jail, LaVar Ball didn't have much to say.

LaVar asked ESPN, 'Who?', after the president's name was mentioned for his meeting in handling the matter with Jinping.

The father added: 'What was he over there for? Don't tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out.'

Trump then took to Twitter to respond to Ball.' Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is not accepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!' Trump tweeted.

On Monday, Ball continued his feud with Trump by questioning the commander-in-chief's role in freeing his son from Chinese authorities.

In an interview that quickly derailed despite the best efforts of host Chris Cuomo, Ball once again declined to thank Trump.

'What did he [Trump] do for my son?' Ball asked Cuomo. 'I don't have to go around thanking everybody. I don't have to go around thanking everybody. 'During the bizarre interview Monday, Ball and Cuomo quickly fell into a back-and-forth argument about why Ball wouldn't thank the president.'

'We're not even talking about the other two kids,' Ball said.'

We're talking about your son because of what you said,' Cuomo replied. He continued to press, asking: 'Why won't you thank him? Your son thanked him, the other two boys did.'

'I'm not the other two boys,' Ball replied. 'Did you thank the doctor for bringing you into this world? I'm not just saying thank you to everybody for nothing.' 'I would've said "Thank you" if he would've put him on his plane and took him home,' Ball said. 'Then I would've said, "Thank you Mr. Trump for taking my boys out of China and taking them back to the US."'There's a lot of room on that plane. I would have said thank you kindly to that.

'When the interview ended, the two men wished each other a 'Happy Thanskgiving' with Ball even taking the opportunity to send his Thanksgiving wishes to the president.

On Wednesday, Trump launched another attack on LaVar Ball following his CNN interview.

'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. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair. Just think..' Trump tweeted.