NBA star-to-be Lonzo Ball has been snubbed by the three main shoe companies as he seeks an endorsement deal ahead of the NBA draft.
Ball declared for this year’s draft after one year at UCLA and is expected to be a first round draft pick, according to ESPN. His two brothers also plan to attend UCLA and have committed to play basketball there. LiAngelo will be a freshman there this fall, and LaMelo will be a junior in high school.
Ball’s situation is somewhat unusual because his manager-father LaVar Ball has stipulated to Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour that he is seeking a deal where the shoe company also licenses his own Big Baller brand of merchandise and uses his prototypes to make shoes for Lonzo and his other sons, Sporting News reported.
All three major shoe companies passed on the deal with Ball, which was said to encompass all three Ball sons as well as the licensing agreement for up to $1 billion total, Sporting News reported.
“Never in the history of modern-day shoe endorsements have the big companies all stepped away from a potential top pick nearly two months before the NBA draft,” ESPN’s Darren Rovell wrote.
LaVar Ball plans to approach smaller shoe companies like Peak, Li-Ning, and Anta, and he may look for an investor or partner outside the shoe business.
“We’re not going to sign with a company and then wait around for five or six years for a shoe like Paul George had to wait for Nike,” he said, ESPN reported.
LaVar Ball also declined to disclose his company’s sales and profits. “When Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion, those guys weren’t profitable,” he said.
Twitter users sympathized with Lonzo Ball for the situation his dad put him in.
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