LaVar Ball’s never-ending reality show took another twist this past week when he announced his Big Baller Brand announced on its website that it would produce a signature shoe for the youngest of his three sons, LaMelo, the Melo Ball 1 (MBA). The cost of the shoe will be $395.
The announcement created instant controversy about whether the shoes would break NCAA rules and possibly make LaMelo, a 6-3 junior at Chino Hills High who has verbally committed to UCLA, ineligible to play college basketball.
“Generally speaking, a college athlete or prospect paid for use of their athletics reputation or ability risks their future eligibility in that sport,’’ NCAA spokesman Emily James said. “This included profiting from the sale of items bearing the young person’s name. NCAA rules, however, do allow prospects to promote commercial products prior to enrollment, provided it is not for pay.’’
LaVar Ball did not seem all that concerned, feeling he doesn’t need college basketball to market his son for the NBA.
“He’s going to have a shoe,’’ the father told ESPN. “NCAA ain’t going to tell me s…t. 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 umbrell
“We’ll worry about it when we get there,’’ he said. “Who cares? If he can’t play, then he can’t play. It doesn’t mean he’ll stop working out and getting better. We’ll sit out a year or two. Just get stronger and faster, and then go into NBA training camp as a free agent. He already got the narrative—he can play, he can play. You see what he’s doing at 15 and 16. Don’t think that by the time he gets 17, 18 that he ain’t going to be 10 times better than what he is now.’’
Whether he is destined to become the second coming of old brother Lonzo– an gifted 6-6 Magic Johnson-like All American point guard as a freshman at UCLA who was the second pick in the 2017 NBA draft and was MVP of the Vegas summer league– has yet to be determined. But no one since LeBron James has had this much hype in high school.
LaMelo averaged 26.7 points as a sophomore, exploding for a magical 92 on Feb. 7 in a 146-123 victory over Los Osos High, while brother LeAngelo, a 6-6 senior who will be a freshman at UCLA this fall, was sidelined with an ankle injury. LaMelo recorded 63 points in the second half alone and made 37 of 61 shots in the entire game. It was the second-best scoring performance in California high school history behind Togran Gregorian, who scored 100 points for Mesrobian in a 114-47 win over L.A. Pacific Christian in 2003.
Ball became a travel team sensation this summer, selling out games at the 4,000-seat Cashman Center in an Adidas summer championship event in Vegas and attracted NBA stars Damian Lillard, Andrew Wiggins, Jamal Murray, Thon Maker, Eric Gordon and Lakers’ rookie and older brother Lonzo Ball for a showdown against Top 5 ranked rising senior forward Zion Williamson of SC Supreme. SC Supreme won the game, 104-92. Ball had 31. Williamson finished with 28.
