Once upon a time, there was a talented basketball player named Lonzo Ball, who had a very loud father named LaVar Ball.
Lonzo was one of the top talents of the 2017 NBA Draft, but that wasn’t enough success for LaVar. In addition to NBA success, LaVar wanted to create his own shoe brand, which he named Big Baller Brand. LaVar had Lonzo wear those shoes for one season and then, long story short, Lonzo stopped wearing them.
We already knew Lonzo wasn’t happy with his father’s shoes, but he made it abundantly clear to ESPN in an article about his long-term injury woes published Thursday.
As the story goes, Lonzo was selected No. 2 overall in the 2017 NBA Draft and was given a pair of shoes to wear in summer league. He did like them.
Via ESPN:
“They were like kickball shoes,” Ball said. He wore them just twice that summer. He and his manager, Darren Moore, went out to Foot Locker stores in Las Vegas to buy a different pair of high-end shoes for each game. Ball played one game each in the Air Jordan XXXI, Nike Kobe A.D., Adidas Harden LS and Under Armour Curry 4 en route to winning summer league MVP.
LaVar changed course after that, reportedly setting up an agreement with Skechers to manufacture the shoes bearing his family’s name. Lonzo wore those shoes and still wasn’t a fan, going as far as suggesting they could have played a role in his meniscus injury during his rookie season.
“I think it’s a possibility for sure, to be honest with you,” Ball said. “I wasn’t really getting hurt like that until I started wearing them.”
Lonzo also speculated that years of training on the hard concrete of Chino Hills State Park could have played a role in the cartilage issues that have hammered his career. He missed two entire seasons while undergoing three different surgeries, including a cartilage and meniscus transplant.
Ball returned this season and has played only six games due to a wrist injury, averaging nowhere close to his usual playing time.
Meanwhile, Big Baller Brand has crashed, burned, risen again, and continues to do business, mostly thanks to Lonzo’s investment. There have been legal battles, fractured relationships and an “F” from the Better Business Bureau, but you can still buy a LaVar Ball-autographed shoe for the cool price of $5,000.