Charles Barkley is not a fan of LaVar Ball and made that clear once again.
Barkley appeared as a guest on ESPN’s “Get Up” show Wednesday morning and talked about Lonzo Ball breaking ties from Big Baller Brand, the apparel company started by Lonzo’s father, LaVar.
Barkley praised Lonzo for finally breaking free from his dad’s influence and threw a couple jabs at LaVar, calling him a “big mouth jacka–.”
“He should have been his own man from the beginning,” Barkley said of Lonzo. “You can’t let your family members piggy back off your success. This thing has been a disaster from day one. It was never going to work, and I feel bad. His big mouth, jacka– dad has put his kid in an awkward situation all year. I don’t want to see anything bad happen to the kid, but I don’t like his dad at all, and this thing has been a joke from the beginning.”
"It's this ol' big mouth, jackass dad that's put his kids in an awkward situation all year."
Charles Barkley did not hold back about LaVar Ball pic.twitter.com/Ng2yj0Cue0
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) March 27, 2019
There are some things I agree with Barkley on and some I disagree with him.
Yes, Lonzo should have been making his own choices from the beginning, but the Big Baller Brand concept has not been a disaster, and certainly wasn’t a bad idea. LaVar and his family achieved extreme awareness for their brand and also seemed to have pretty good sales. The problem is they just never had sufficient infrastructure in place for delivering merchandise, managing customers, and handling orders. That’s why they ended up with an F rating from the Better Business Bureau.
LaVar’s big mistake was overplaying his hand when Lonzo entered the league. They would have been better off cutting some sort of deal with a sneaker company to license the brand and logo, which would have allowed the difficult work to fall with the experts — the shoe companies — while still allowing for growth of their personal brand.
