ESPN.com reports Nike, Under Armour and Adidas all balked at the demands being made by LaVar Ball, the father of Lonzo and two more coveted basketball recruits who are committed to UCLA.
So, what gives?
In his meetings with the three, LaVar insisted that the company license his upstart Big Baller Brand from him. He also showed the companies a shoe prototype that he hoped would be Lonzo's first shoe.
"We've said from the beginning, we aren't looking for an endorsement deal," LaVar told ESPN. "We're looking for co-branding, a true partner. But they're not ready for that because they're not used to that model. But hey, the taxi industry wasn't ready for Uber, either."
Last week, Nike consultant George Raveling, at SportsBusinessJournal's World Congress of Sports called LaVar "the worst thing to happen to basketball in the last hundred years."
The last bit has a certain ring of truth to it, but it apparently set off LaVar Ball, who responded with this outlandish comment.
"Just imagine how rich Tiger (Woods), Kobe (Bryant), Serena (Williams), (Michael) Jordan and LeBron (James) would have been if they dared to do their own thing," LaVar said. "No one owned their own brand before they turned pro. We do and I have three sons so it's that much more valuable."
There’s some validity to that point of view, at least if you have no idea how rich those athletes actually are anyway and how hard it is to successfully build a marketing company and develop merchandise, brands, etc.
In case you weren’t paying attention, the elder Ball was a frequent source of headlines as the college basketball season wound down thanks to several outlandish statements regarding himself or his sons.
Apparently that was just a warmup act.
Hopefully he knows what he’s doing — not for his sake, but that of his sons.
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