LaVar Ball stirred up trouble for his famous son all season. This time, however, the sins of a father may have cost a son some serious dough. Lonzo Ball and his famous father had meetings with three different shoe companies about sponsoring the future top NBA Draft pick. None of them wanted to sign the kid, though, all because of the father's business aspirations involving his own company and the commercialization of his three basketball-playing children.
Failed shoe deals
The big players in the NBA shoe landscape are Adidas, Nike, and Under Armour.
Evidently, all of them balked when the Ball family walked through the door. According to an ESPN report, each company has made their intentions clear that they will not be signing Lonzo Ball to a shoe deal. It's unprecedented in the history of the NBA for a top prospect to be shown the door by the major shoe companies, but that seems to be what's taking place here.
It all comes back to LaVar Ball and his ambitions for his sons - and himself. He wants his Big Baller Brand licensed by a major shoe company and none of them seem willing to do it. He seems to believe these companies are just afraid of changing the industry, but they most likely aren't interested in going into business with him, especially if his asking price is $1 billion, as it has previously been reported.
They would rather take their chances with a prospect that won't give them a headache due to their father.
Entrepreneurial spirit
LaVar Ball is not yet giving up on his shoe dreams. He believes that packaging Lonzo, plus his other two sons who have yet to enter college, in a group shoe deal will mean big bucks for all. The father plans on taking his case to some of the major Chinese shoe companies, seemingly desperate to keep his proposed imprint together before it all crumbles before him.
LaVar has been talking a big game about his sons, specifically Lonzo, since about midway through the college basketball season. The family has become a laughingstock as the elder Ball claimed his son was better than Steph Curry and that he personally could defeat Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one basketball. The consequences of his boastful ways hadn't yet harmed the bottom line, though, as there was no bottom line to harm. Now there is, and it seems like it may have been burned by a lack of flexibility, leading Under Armour, Adidas, and Nike to close the door on him.
