Is Lavar Ball A Rare Marketing Genius?

in basketball •  7 years ago 

If you guys don't know who Lavar Ball is let me fill you in. He is the father to Lonzo Ball who plays on the Lakers. He is also the father of the two younger Ball Brothers one of which was enrolled at UCLA the first semester but then stole some sunglasses in China with two other teammates and caused an International news event when they were in a Chinese jail and then later were on lock down at the hotel room until they were able to return to the United States. That was LiAngelo and Lavar then pulled him out of UCLA because they didn't give a time line as to when they were going to unsuspend him for the China incident.

The youngest son, LaMelo who at 16 years old has his own shoe the Melo Ball 1s was pulled out of high school by his dad because the coach at his High School wasn't on the same page. Lavar is home schooling him now and has both LiAngelo and LaMelo in Lithuania playing professionally. On top of that some of the games are Big Baller Series games which is Lavar's brand.

I know all of this is confusing but let me break down the craziness.

  1. The oldest son Lonzo was the first player to have his own shoe coming out of college. Big Baller Brand which is the family's company.
  2. The middle son caused an International quagmire by stealing sun glasses in China when he is already rich and drives a supercar. So he jumped ship on UCLA and is playing professional in Europe.
  3. The youngest son is now home schooled instead of being a junior at Chino Hills High School and is playing professionally in Europe as well and has his own signature shoe.
  4. Lavar's master plan is to get all 3 boys playing on the Lakers at the same time which would be pretty unreal. If they all end up in the NBA at the same time that would be insane in itself.

To be honest in my opinion Lavar seems to be a couple steps ahead of everyone and is always getting insane press. The Ball brothers and all the drama surrounding them has been fun to watch in my opinion.

Here is a video of the Ball brothers highlights when they were all on the same high school team.

Here is a video of Lonzo's UCLA highlights.

Here is a video of LaMelo and LiAngelo playing in Europe.


Lavar says a lot of off the wall things but he has a master plan and between him and his wife's solid genetic combination and their coaching and support of their boys it has been a very interesting combination which could lead to solid professional careers for all three of the boys. Some people try to say that Lonzo is a bust and that LaMelo and LiAngelo won't make the NBA but it is way too early to tell any of that. At the end of the day I think we will be watching and hearing about the Ball brothers for a long time to come.

A lot of the stuff Lavar says is mainly to stir up conversation and get him interviews on TV. I respect that he is willing to try the unproven path and so far it is working out really well for his family. There was a big question about LaMelo being eligible to play at UCLA since he already has his own shoe but none of that matters now. The two younger boys won't be playing in college because they are professionals now at the age of 16 and 19 which is very rare. I wish them luck and will continue to enjoy watching the progress.

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  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

Did you hear he wants to start his own league for top high school talent to go to instead of going to the NCAA? It is risky to attempt it but basically they are saying they would pay the players like $50K-100K / year. But the thinking is that instead of the players trying to go to school for a year or two just to play ball they could actually get paid to play ball those first years out.

It would be rough the first year and I almost think they would have to have a couple traveling teams and they would really live off the college pre-season and hope they have the talent to destroy D1 teams and then play games all over the world and rely on highlights to get the guys into the G league and get them drafted / signed....etc.

  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

I'm gonna say marketing genius and conceited asshole all rolled into one. I actually kind of feel bad for the kids with him being so controlling over their lives and images. I recently saw Better Business Burea came out and warned people against doing business with Big Baller Brands. Apparently people who order their stuff never receive it, receive the wrong items, etc and rarely are any of these situations rectified nor do they have a contact number of anything on their site at least at the time of the writing. I gotta give it to the guy though, he knows how to get press

Yeah I heard that about the Big Baller Brand as well that there was real bad reviews. Personally I don't like the logo and branding but people are buying it up....etc.

I have a feeling he has sat down with the kids and told them it is all a show to just get press etc...... and that half the stuff said is just WWE status entertainment. They kind of keep quite for the most part but I will say this...... for seemingly being pretty controling of the kids I'm surprised that Lonzo and LaMelo's shots ended up being pretty unique and not fairly cookie cutter. So LaVar must have let them feel out their shots and what was most comfortable for them bio-mechanically and didn't try to change it to make it standard. Gelo's shot is fairly text book. The other two have suspect shots but then they make it so it doesn't matter. lol

I do appreciate your opinions @brianphobos, but I saw him on CNN with Chris Cuomo a month or so ago...seems like just an idiot.

He is not even very good at being a showman. Not close to a Don King. He is desperately trying to but comes off as a fool who doesn't make sense when he talks.
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IMHO, he has done nothing but hurt his sons' careers,

I guess it is yet to be seen for the younger two sons but even with all the potential conflicts LaVar could cause with coaches it has worked out well financially and quickest route for Lonzo.

One thing I will say is I don't like part of his coaching style. I saw a video where young LaMelo stayed up all night playing video games and then got abused by the competition the next day in his AAU game and LaVar was pissed and threw the ball real hard at LaMelo while he was sitting down. He caught it and everything but I don't like the negative reinforcement coaching.

I personally hate the guy and I also view him as an idiot but there's no denying that he's getting press. Alot of people think Trump is an idiot which may or may not be true but again he got elected and gets press. Alot of people hate Tai Lopez and think he's an idiot or a scammer but he's probably the most well known guy on Youtube.

Maybe in the end people wind up hating him and hsi family or some of these stunts blow up in his face but for now it's working for him. I say this as someone who is not a fan of him either.

Stealing sunglasses show us that stealing is not a matter of being rich or poor, some people are thieves by nature... Do not think Lavar Ball has the credibility to top the NCAA league. I do follow the NBA matches and I like Chicago Bulls...are you Lakers @brianphobos ?

I think it would be tough for him to pull off a league where enough top talent would play in it instead of go to the NCAA. I think a lot of what he would end up picking up in the league would be guys who were really good but didn't have the grades but were being forced to go to a Junior College instead. It would possibly make sense for those guys to go the LaVar route instead of try to work their way from a Juco to a Division 1 program.

They are like the Kardashians of the sports world. They completely suck at their respective sport but people keep talking about them.