Notorious basketball father LaVar Ball is attempting to grow his personal profile by creating a new basketball league for high school seniors who have decided not to bother going to college, reports say.
Ball claims the new league, to be called the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), will pay the lowest-ranked players $3,000 a month while the stars would get $10,00 a month, according to Sporting News.
“Getting these players is going to be easy,” Ball said. “This is giving guys a chance to get a jump start on their career, to be seen by pro scouts, and we’re going to pay them because someone has to pay these kids.”
Ball also said the league will use NBA regulations but that all players will wear his Big Baller brand shoes and gear because his company is funding the league.
“We’ll give it to them all. They’ll be wearing our uniform, our shoes, our T-shirts and our hoodies,” Ball insisted.
Ball said he wants to assemble ten teams in cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas, Brooklyn, and Atlanta.
The shoe salesman and father of several basketball phenoms will take kids who graduated from high school and play them in his league instead of encouraging them to attend an accredited college. In Ball’s view, he is doing these kids a big favor.
“Those kids who are one and done, they shouldn’t be there with the NCAA trying to hold them hostage, not allowing them to keep the jersey they wear while selling replicas of them in stores,” he said. “So our guy isn’t going to go to Florida State for a year. He’s going to come to our league.”
Ball recently made news with a feud with President Donald Trump over the assistance the president lent his son, LiAngelo, who was arrested for shoplifting by Chinese authorities when his college team was in that country in November. President Trump personally intervened with China’s leadership to get LiAngelo and two other players released after the arrest, but the senior Ball refused to give Trump any credit for helping his son out of the jam.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.