LaMelo Ball has own shoe; will NCAA have a fit?
UCLA recruit’s father LaVar suggests shoe deal could outweigh college eligibility.
LaMelo Ball drove his shiny new Lamborghini down a closed-off road at the Chino Airport, into the event space for his 16th birthday party.
The Chino Hills High basketball star was joined by his father and mother, and his brothers LiAngelo, who is set to play at UCLA, and Lonzo, the Lakers point guard who was taken second overall in this summer’s NBA draft.
His dad has much bigger plans for his youngest son than just the glitzy car. Last week, their family’s Big Baller Brand unveiled the MB1 shoe, which was available Thursday for pre-order at a price of $395. LaVar, the family patriarch, wanted to do something that had never been done before. The move, having a signature shoe for a high school junior, raised eyebrows and the specter of whether LaMelo, who committed to UCLA, would lose his eligibility for college.
And if they have to choose between LaMelo playing in college or having his own shoe?
“He’s going to have a shoe,” LaVar said. “NCAA ain’t going to tell me [anything]. Because they’re not my boss. That’s what they do, but they’re not going to be like, ‘Oh, LaVar, you can’t bring that shoe out until we tell you.’ What? Something that I’m doing for my family? That’s mine? I’m not under no umbrella.”
Said LaMelo: “I’ve still got two years left [at Chino Hills], so I’ll worry about that when it gets there.”
The party was filmed for an upcoming episode of Ball in the Family, a 10-episode series that is airing on Facebook Watch every Sunday, starting Sept. 10. The show will continue filming during the Lakers’ season, but don’t expect to see much footage of Lonzo in the Lakers facility.
“I don’t think they’ll let him film at camp and all that stuff,” LaVar said. “I don’t think that’s a big deal. Most of the stuff they’ll film when he comes back home. When he’s off. … He’s gotta be dialed in. We ain’t just coming to say he’s playing for the Lakers. We’re coming for the championship. If he don’t, he ain’t a Ball boy. We’re coming for the championship his first year. Magic did it. That’s saying it can be done.”