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LiAngelo wouldn't have thanked Trump if UCLA didn't tell him to

Josh Lefkowitz / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Had it not been for UCLA, LiAngelo Ball wouldn't have thanked president Donald Trump for his apparent role in keeping him out of Chinese jail after being reprimanded for shoplifting.

"They (UCLA) wanted to hear that, and (Trump) tweeted about it before my speech, so I had to add him in right before I gave it," LiAngelo said during a recent appearance on Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club. "I wrote my original speech, and I had to put his part in there in the morning before I went.

"My school wanted to hear it, too. Before I went up there, it was like, 'you got to thank him.' So I just threw him in there real quick before I gave my speech."

LiAngelo, along with now-former UCLA teammates Jalen Hill and Cody Riley, held a news conference on Nov. 15 to issue a public apology for their actions overseas during a 13-day tour of Asia.

Trump expected gratitude from the players, as he believed it was his swaying of Chinese president Xi Jinping that prevented them from being behind bars for the next 10 years.

UCLA eventually suspended the three indefinitely, but on Dec. 4, LiAngelo's father, LaVar, declared that he was pulling his son from the school.

Now taking his talents to Lithuania with his younger brother LaMelo, LiAngelo noted that had he known he wouldn't be playing ball at UCLA this season, Trump's name wouldn't have been uttered during his speech.

Related: Kanter believes Ball brothers will hate playing in Lithuania

"No. If they didn't tell me to do it (thank Trump), it wouldn't have been in there," LiAngelo added.

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