LaVar Ball is so ready to lash out at everyone in his path that he construed Kobe Bryant‘s offer to help mentor players as a slight against himself. The Big Baller Brand chief talker appeared on the radio on Thursday and shot down the idea that Bryant could offer help of some kind to his son, who will be a rookie this fall.
Bryant said he’s an “open book” for current NBA players if they want to talk now that he’s retired. It’s something current stars like Isaiah Thomas have taken advantage of in recent weeks. Bryant said a meeting with Michael Jackson encouraged him to be a mentor to other players, something he’s embracing now that he’s left the game behind.
Just don’t expect Lonzo Ball to call anytime soon.
“I don’t need no advice from Kobe Bryant,” LaVar Ball said Thursday on “Mornings with Keyshawn Johnson” on ESPN Radio 710 LA. “I don’t need advice from Kobe Bryant. ‘Zo’s got to play his game.
“If they’re at practice and he sees something, and Lonzo listens to him or whatever, he’s good. … But it’s just not, ‘OK, I’m talking to Kobe, so now I’m going to be good.’ If Kobe sees something that ‘Zo is doing, then go from there. But I’m not trying to pattern after nobody.”
I’m not sure when this actually happened but it’s occurring to me now: Does LaVar Ball know he’s not getting drafted next month? Because Kobe would be giving advice to Lonzo, the basketball player, not LaVar the budding business mogul and family patriarch.
This is the troubling part of the whole ZO2 Prime/Big Baller Brand narrative: it’s just as easy to say the overpriced, unproven shoes are just as much LaVar’s as they are Lonzo’s. When people say they want to support Big Baller Brand and buy a pair of shoes, they’re essentially buying a LaVar Ball signature shoe. Lonzo may have designed it, sure, but the rhetoric surrounding the release is all coming from LaVar and it’s difficult to separate the two.
And that confusing of personalities is carrying over everywhere. Perhaps it’s just a slip of the tongue by LaVar here, but Bryant isn’t trying to mentor LaVar Ball. That wouldn’t go anywhere, as we already know he’s great at ignoring good advice from people like Stephon Marbury and FUBU CEO Daymond John. Kobe wants to help players, not brand managers.
It’s in moments like these that make you wonder if Ball’s bluster is more genuine hubris than marketing. Perhaps he’s forgotten that none of this master plan for the BBB brand actually works if Lonzo isn’t a true star in the NBA. There seem to be a growing number of people that want to help Lonzo figure things out when he actually takes the floor. Turning away someone like Kobe before he ever actually extends a hand seems like a shortsighted gesture at best, and just another way to get a headline at worst.
This time it might come at the expense of his son’s long-term success, which is troubling to say the least.
