The Internet Was Not Kind To Lonzo Ball’s Outrageous $495 Signature Shoe

Lonzo Ball‘s first shoe deal is done: he signed with himself. Ball announced his first signature shoe on Thursday, and Big Baller Brand is making it without the help of major shoe companies like Nike and Addidas.

The ZO2 Prime got showed off in a video starring Ball himself, who is expected to go in the Top 5 of next month’s NBA Draft. Though many thought Lonzo and father Lavar Ball were bluffing when they said they’d go it alone in the shoe game, they clearly were not.

The shoe itself got some mixed reviews on social media when images first appeared. The price—$495 for the cheapest pair—got roasted in a fitting homage to one of the best moments in internet history.

Of course, the initial release got Crying Jordan’d.

https://twitter.com/DylansFreshTake/status/860229902452363268

Then we got down to the shoes themselves.

The $995 pair does come with some interesting accessories, however, but definitely not Ball himself. Then again, you could use that $500 bucks to get yourself a really, really nice pair of shoes.

Others weren’t as kind to the shoes themselves.

https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/860220664468340738

They were called knockoffs in more ways than one.

The Association’s own broadcast partners got in on the act.

Here’s a good point: the Balls give kids a chance to sticker shock their parents into funding a cheap-by-comparison alternative, though.

https://twitter.com/screwyoumegn/status/860232849294843909

There’s also a sad truth here: taking risks does mean there’s a chance you get rewarded with ridicule.

I mean, even the $220 slides got some shade thrown their way. I know I’m fine with my $10 Puma slides for walking into and out of the gym, but maybe I’m missing out.

Some people just plain didn’t like the slides at all.

https://twitter.com/thatmanmomo/status/860229905061036032

But given what we’ve learned from the internet about rich millennials, maybe there’s a market for these shoes after all.

Some, myself included, saw a bit of copyright infringement on Lonzo’s logo on the back.

https://twitter.com/MaxaMillion711/status/860222775801241600

More than one NBA fan noted that Ball might just be a big fan of Overwatch.

While quite a few people thought the Balls were just bootleg Kobes, others took the shoe release as an opportunity to bash some other, less fashionable signature shoes out there.

Curry does have one advantage over Ball at this point: he’s actually played an NBA game.

Getting people to pay that much for a shoe before he even gets drafted is going to be a tough sell, but some people think Big Baller Brand knows what it’s doing here. At the very least, they did what Lavar Ball always tends to do: get people talking.