Nike didn’t plan for LaVar Ball.
The father of hyped NBA prospect Lonzo Ball has made headline after headline lately for his attention-seeking comments that thrust him, not his son, into the spotlight. It makes for an entertaining time for some.
But not Nike.
According to Michael Smith of SportsBusiness Journal, some in Nike aren’t happy about the elder Ball:
Wow, veteran Nike exec George Raveling on LaVar Ball: “The worst thing to happen to basketball in the last hundred years.” #sbjwcs
— Michael Smith (@SmittySBJ) April 20, 2017
So much for any press is good press, right?
Nike will have to learn to live with LaVar, as it’s clear the former NBA player isn’t going to remove himself from the spotlight. He’s having too much fun, even if he is saying silly stuff like he could’ve taken on Michael Jordan or that his son will be a better player than Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
No joke about the Michael Jordan comments, per Josh Peter of USA Today:
“I would just back (Jordan) in and lift him off the ground and call a foul every time he fouls me when I do a jump hook to the right or the left,” Ball said. “He cannot stop me one-on-one. He better make every shot ’cause he can’t go around me. He’s not fast enough. And he can only make so many shots outside before I make every bucket under the rim.”
If Lonzo can become a great player in his own right, Nike rolling with him will be a lucrative decision.
But the Swoosh will have to take LaVar right along with him.
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