Stick with me here but Lavar Ball really is a prophet.
He’s said and did some outlandish things since his son Lonzo Ball was at UCLA. The story of this prophecy starts two years ago when Big Baller Brand was coming together. Lonzo is on the Lakers, BBB was taking off, and Lavar was running wild doing and saying wild things on TV. The one thing he said was that the NCAA can’t tell him anything or what to do when Lamelo Ball dropped his signature shoe.
At the time, this was deemed to be ridiculous because according to NCAA rules, Lamelo could not profit from his name or he’d be deemed ineligible. His verbal commitment to UCLA was in big time jeopardy and Lavar Ball decided the hell with the NCAA. He yanked his kids out of school, and shipped them overseas to play ball.
Enrolled at UCLA at the time, Liangelo Ball was dealing with legal troubles due to some theft in China. Lamelo however was still in high school. This was looked at as awful parenting and everything about that because of the scholarship.
So why is Lavar Ball a prophet? Because he understood that the NCAA is the biggest criminal of all not allowing the big time stars in the game of basketball to receive all of the notoriety and none of the profit. To name a few recent players, guys like Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett could have easily had shoe deals with Nike the second they walked into Duke University.
Since Lamelo dropped out of high school and was shipped overseas, Lamelo has developed into arguably the best prospect in the 2020 NBA Draft and has purchased the Australian basketball team he played for. Now I figured this to be a rare occurrence, but fellow member of this draft class RJ Hampton followed suit and joined Lamelo overseas and left that NCAA scholarship on the table.
The trend was happening and yesterday when 2021 top recruit Daishen Nix decommitted from his UCLA scholarship to join the G-League, the writing was right there on the wall. This followed suit with what top 2021 NBA prospects Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd had done in mid-April. The NBA developmental affiliate will allow Nix to make around $300,000 dollars and allow him to play against top competition before he becomes eligible for the 2021 NBA draft. This was less than Green who is going to make around $500,000, but definitely more than what either could have made playing in the NCAA. Not to mention these are teenagers making what some CEO’s would consider an annual salary.
In response to this, the NCAA is now instituting rules for 2021 that will allow players to profit from likeness, third party endorsements, and even adopting a new name.
My response? It’s about damn time! Truthfully, this is music to my ears because I hate how greedy the NCAA is. Let these stars get their cut of the money. Outside of the NCAA, literally no one cares if PG from Hofstra isn’t getting the same compensation as a potential NBA Draft lottery pick.
It’s ridiculous that it came to this but I’m glad the NCAA is finally adopting these rules. They need to do everything they can to keep bringing in the big time prospects simply because of March Madness. The NCAA can offer a national stage that overseas franchises and maybe even the G-League cannot. The only thing missing from the equation was money.
I know he’s said some crazy things, but Lavar Ball really might be a genius to plan it this well.
thoughtsfromthebench.com 