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LaVar Ball likes to say things, like how his grassroots Big Baller Brand is going to be Nike’s competition.
When LaVar Ball opens his mouth, people listen. Not so much because anyone is particularly engaged or interest, rather it’s hard to ignore someone shouting things at you. Ball, the father of soon-to-be NBA lottery draft pick Lonzo Ball, has been trying to work his way to the forefront of national media attention by saying things.
These things include:
- His son is going to put LeBron in a box when they play each other
- He can beat Michael Jordan in a game of 1-on-1
- He wants a $1B shoe deal with Nike and won’t settle for less
The list goes on, but that last bit caught the attention of Nike who laughed him off stage. Ball, never abel to back down, has clapped back at Nike saying he was out of his mind for thinking a $1 billon shoe deal was realistic at this time. One executive said that they hadn’t seen anything like Ball in a hundred years — and not in a good way.
“I know I’m on the right step, ’cause if nothing like this happened in 100 years?” Ball said. “Guess what—we in a new lane, baby!”
Ever the bombastic optimist, Ball then added the headline money quote, “Big Baller Brand about to be your competition.”
That’s bold — like real bold. It’s also not wrong but in the same way some of the stuff Donald Trump said on the campaign trail wasn’t wrong. Just like how Trump said very vague but extremely obvious things that he can later point to and go see, I said so, Ball is laying similar groundwork.
By default, Big Baller Brand entering the marketplace makes them competition for Nike. It’s the same way that Lonzo Ball entering the NBA will make him LeBron James’ competition — present but not equal.
We’ll have to see what happens with BBB when it goes toe-to-toe with Nike, but more power to Ball for trying to work the body of competition far larger than he’ll be in the foreseeable future.
