Anyone who has followed the world of Basketball in the last 12 months will have witnessed the rise of Lavar Ball and the Big Baller Brand. This brash father of three basketball playing sons has been a discussion point for almost every sports talk show in America for the last 12 months. He has boasted that he could have beaten Michael Jordan in his prime, despite only averaging 2.4 points during his college career. So how exactly did the former personal trainer become one of the most talked about people on the planet?

Whilst growing up in Los Angeles, California the 6 foot 5 inches tall Lavar demonstrated a real talent for sport. After attending Cal State College in Los Angeles he was offered a contract for the NFL team the New York Jets as a defensive end. Lavar’s NFL career was ultimately unsuccessful and he never actually took the field during an NFL game. He returned to California to become a personal trainer and live with his college sweetheart Tina; together they had 3 boys. Lavar has often stated that he “chose” Tina as his wife because she was so tall; Tina says “he always had a master plan”. He began to train his three boys (Lonzo, Liangelo andLamelo) from a very early age. The boys would be doing “pull ups and dips from 4 or 5 years old” as they were encouraged and motivated by brotherly competition. Their hard work eventually paid off as the three brothers led the public Chino Hill High School to victory in the State championships and were undefeated during the 2015/16 season. The eldest brother Lonzo secured a place at UCLA, a college that all three boys had declared for. Lonzo excelled in his first year in college and was predicted to be one of the top picks in the 2017 NBA draft. Meanwhile the younger brothers, Liangelo and Lamelo, were still putting up serious numbers for Chino Hills with Gelo set to head to UCLA next year. However disappointingly Lamelo  had a game where he scored 92 points on 60 shots, for which he was loudly criticised for in the media for his lack of defensive skill  and selfishness.

 

This is the point that media interest in the boys began to pique. People were fascinated by these three basketball playing brothers and Lavar took full advantage of it. He claimed that Lonzo was better than the reigning NBA MVP champion, Steph Curry.  He also told NBA hall of famer, Charles Barkley, to stay behind his desk “and eat them Doughnuts” after Barkley criticised his son Lamelo. As the year went on it seems each passing day would start with another Lavar Ball feud or outrageous statement. He was putting huge pressure on his young children; he proclaimed Lonzo “the best player in the world” and claimed would be drafted as the number 1 pick by the Los Angeles Lakers. After Lonzo finished his only year at college and declared for the draft, Lonzo refused to take part in any pre-draft workouts with other teams apart from the Lakers. An incredibly risky tactic considering the Lakers had the number 2 pick in a highly talented draft class. But Lavar spoke it into existence as Lavar was the number 2 pick by the Lakers and their new GM Magic Johnson. Lavar said the plan was to get all three of the boys on the Lakers and it seemed the “master plan” was working.

 

Lonzo Ball came into the NBA as perhaps the most hyped rookie since Lebron James in 2003. Not only was he supposed to be the saviour of the most famous franchise in the sport but he also had a target on his back. All of his father’s comments had not gone unnoticed by NBA players and it was clear on opening night against the Clippers that opposition players were going let him know about it. Lonzo was also the face of his family’s company the “Big Baller Brand”. Just before the NBA season the brand released Lonzo’s first signature shoe the ZO2s which were priced at 495$ after Lavar had declared  “we’re not even competing with Nike, we’re better than them”. The extreme pressure seemed to effect Lonzo as he struggled during the early part of the season. There was further trouble for Lavar as he pulled LaMelo out of High School after having a disagreement with the new Chino Hills coach about the amount of shorts Lamelo was going to take each game. Meanwhile Liangelo was arrested during UCLAs pre-season tour to China for shoplifting and was facing jail time for the offence. It took the intervention of President Trump to keep Liangelo out of jail. It seemed the Big Baller Empire was crumbling before it ever really began.

 

However the boys’ struggles did nothing to slow Lavar down. He never takes a backwards step and instead  went on the offensive, launching  a strong attack on Donald Trump. Trump replied and for a few days we saw perhaps the two most brash and egotistical men in America indulge in a very entertaining war of words. It’s testament to Lavar’s marketing skills that he has gone from being a personal trainer to an individual engaged in name calling with the President of the USA. These skills were on full show again with his next announcement as both Liuangelo and Lamelo Ball had signed with a professional team in Lithuania. Lithunia is not ranked as one of Europe’s highest leagues and many pundits and broadcasters scoffed at the move and saw it as a backwards step. Lavar as usual brushed it off and said this was the “plan”. The boy’s first game saw over one hundred thousand people tune in on the Facebook live stream. These are staggering numbers for two teenagers playing their first professional game in the Lithuanian league.

 

Lavar ended the year announcing the Big Baller brand were starting their own professional league. A fitting end for what can be seen as the year of Lavar. A charismatic man who is unapologetically himself and who is definitely winning. It’s actually quite refreshing in this era of PC culture to see a man who says exactly what he is thinking. Lavar has shunned the major companies and corporate America and gone it alone. He has mastered the art of public manipulation and knows how to keep himself relevant. Whether we ever see all the Ball brothers play on the Lakers is yet to be seen but looks unlikely. One thing we do know is Lavar is here to stay and he won’t let us forget him.