Lonzo Ball is a professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA. He was one of the most hyped players even before entering the professional ranks. Ball won multiple awards during high school as he led Chino Hills High School to an undefeated record and the state title in his senior year. After an impressive high school basketball stint, he committed to play basketball for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He one numerous individual accolades during his one-year stay at UCLA, including being named a Consensus First-team All-American and leading the NCAA in assists. In this specific post, though, we'll be focusing on Lonzo Ball’s dad LaVar Ball.

Due to his success at the amateur level, Lonzo Ball was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers as the 2nd overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in his first year with the Lakers. After two years in Los Angeles, he was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans where he spent two more years before signing a lucrative four-year $80 million contract to join the Chicago Bulls before the 2021-2022 NBA season. However, in this article, we will be talking about the person that molded him to become the player that he became. We are here to talk about Lonzo Ball’s dad LaVar Ball.

Lonzo Ball’s Dad LaVar Ball

Lonzo Ball's Dad, Lavar Ball

Early on, everyone thought that LaVar Ball was out of his mind when he came out of nowhere claiming that all of his sons will be in the NBA one day. He held his children in high regard as he raised them and he was the one who trained them.

But, before taking a deep dive into how he built his brand, let us learn more about Lonzo Ball’s dad, LaVar Ball.

LaVar Christoper Ball was born on October 23, 1967. He was raised in South Los Angeles, California, by parents Anderson and Maria Ball. He has two sisters and four brothers, his brothers are LaFrance, LaValle, LaRenzo, and LaShon.

He attended Canoga Park High School in Canoga Park, Los Angeles. He was a multi-sport athlete there as he was a quarterback on the football team and he played as a forward for the basketball team. In one season, LaVar Ball grabbed 316 total rebounds to break the school record.

LaVar Ball first started playing college basketball at West Los Angeles College in the low-tier Western State Conference. In their season opener, he had 33 points and 18 rebounds. Ball then transferred to NCAA Division I Washington State where he became their starting forward. However, he only averaged 2.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1 assist per contest in the 26 games he played with the Cougars.

After one season, LaVar Ball transferred to NCAA Division II school Cal State Los Angeles where he played with three of his four brothers. Ball was then invited to a football tryout after his basketball career. He played one year of college football at Long Beach City College as a tight end.

On May 1, 1994, LaVar Ball was signed by the New York Jets of the NFL as a defensive end. The following year, he was signed back, this time as a tight end. However, he was directly sent to the London Monarchs of the World League of American Football (WLAF). In that season for the Monarchs, he had 0 catches but ran for 28 yards in kick returns.

In his NFL career, he was part of the practice squads of both the New York Jets and the Carolina Panthers. Unfortunately, he did not have any games played and an injury forced him to retire and he eventually became a professional trainer in California.

LaVar Ball laid low from public attention until mid-2015 when the news of his sons, Lonzo, Gelo, and Melo, is leading their high school team to unprecedented heights.

In a 2016 interview with MaxPreps, LaVar likened Lonzo’s game to Magic Johnson, but with a jumper. In the same year, he predicted that all three of his sons would be one-and-done prospects and will play in the NBA after one season of college basketball.

In March 2017, he said that he viewed Lonzo as a better player than then-reigning back-to-back MVP Stephen Curry. He also added that he believes Lonzo is the best player in the world, comparing him to Russell Westbrook and LeBron James.

To add to his outlandish takes during that time, LaVar Ball said in an interview with USA Today that “he would kill Michael Jordan one-on-one”.

“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.”

LaVar Ball also had a feud with Donald Trump in 2017 when his son, LiAngelo, and a couple of teammates were in Shanghai, China, with UCLA and he was arrested for shoplifting at a high-end shopping center. Then-US president Donald Trump ensured to have LiAngelo and his teammates were released from custody, and he later tweeted “Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!”

Reports then emerged that Chinese authorities dropped the charges five days before Trump got involved. LaVar Ball responded to Trump via a tweet saying “Who? What was he over there for? Don't tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out.”

Other than that, LaVar Ball is most known for the brand that he launched, Big Baller Brand (BBB), where he is the co-founder and CEO. The brand started to rise in 2017 when it was spearheaded by LaVar and Lonzo Ball. LaVar largely promoted his brand on national TV, even comparing it with major brands like Nike and Adidas.

Their first signature shoe was named ZO2 and it was Lonzo’s signature shoe. It had a price of $495, which drew the ire of many people. BBB eventually released LaMelo’s signature shoe, Melo Ball 1 (MB1) at the price of $395. It was then followed by the Gelo 3 which is the same price as MB1.

 

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LaVar then created the Junior Basketball Association (JBA) which was completely funded by BBB. The league was planned to be set as an alternative for high school players that don’t want to play collegiate basketball. Lower-ranked players earned $3,000 per month while the higher-ranked players earned $10,000 per month.

On top of everything, LaVar Ball and his family had a reality show that was released on Facebook titled “Ball in the Family”. The first episode aired on August 29, 2017, and it ran for six seasons, with the last episode airing on December 20, 2020.

 

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Despite all of the outlandish takes and media frenzy that LaVar Ball brought with him, his dream still became a reality. His eldest son, Lonzo, was drafted with the 2nd overall pick and has signed a lucrative $80 million deal with the Chicago Bulls. His youngest, LaMelo, was also drafted with the 2nd overall pick and is now one of the best point guards in the league — not to mention a one-time NBA All-Star. LiAngelo, on the other hand, is currently playing in the G League with the Greensboro Swarm and is one step toward achieving his NBA dream.

Say what you will about LaVar, but he raised his children right and they are now reaping the benefits of his parenting method. Nonetheless, at the time of this writing this is the information we have on Lonzo Ball’s dad LaVar Ball.