For the past few months LaVar Ball has been the joke everyone in the sports world except himself is in on. The father of UCLA point guard-turned-possible No. 1 draft pick Lonzo Ball, along with upcoming prospects LaMelo and LiAngelo, has succeeded in making himself infamous by claiming he, a former two points per game scorer at Washington State, could beat Michael Jordan in 1-on-1 and that Lonzo was better than Steph Curry. More restrained opinions like "LeBron James would be my fourth-most talented son" and "Mother Theresa wasn't that great" are surely to come in the not too distant future.
That infamy led to a round of media appearances around UCLA's ouster from the NCAA Tournament. LaVar clearly hated it.
Like George Costanza taking the Rosses to the Hamptons, the joke evolved this week to the point where Ball shopped his Big Baller Brand in a "co-branding" effort with Nike, Adidas and Under Armour. After all three for some reason decided to turn down handing an undrafted rookie and his, uh, eccentric father the $1 billion -- yes, a billion -- they were seeking, LaVar took Lonzo's Big Baller Brand gear to market this week.
Big Baller Brand was already selling $50 t-shirts and sweatshirts running up to $80, but the crown jewel dropped this week: Lonzo's signature footwear.
This sandals can be yours for the low price of $220.
If that's not overpriced enough, the ZO2 shoes can be had for $495.
Either Ball is insane, fully into his Stage Dad Troll character, or both.
One person who is decidedly not a big baller is Ohio State wide receivers coach Zach Smith. Smith has marketed his wide receiving corps as Zone 6 for years, complete with their own logo and individual dog tags. Smith called out Ball for copying his logo on Twitter.
Here's guessing Smith won't drop half a grand on the new ZO2s.
(HT LGHL)