I don’t want to spend time counting other people’s money, but when you are famous and buy your equally famous loudmouth dad a loudmouth’s luxury car, and post video of it on social media, you are begging for me to be in your pockets.
Lonzo Ball, the soft-spoken and arguably most talented of the Ball clan, gifted his mom and dad (but I kind of feel like this gift was really just for his dad) a convertible Rolls-Royce for Christmas. Because the patriarch of the Ball clan has branded their lifestyle as big baller, then I guess the car seems fitting.
Lonzo took to Twitter to post video of his father dropping the top.
Yahoo! Sports notes that the car, a Rolls-Royce Dawn, costs some $350,000. Lonzo Ball already got himself a Rolls-Royce, and arguably the least talented of the Ball family and most likely to steal some designer shades in China, LiAngelo Ball, has gotten a Ferrari.
That’s over a million dollars in cars. I don’t know what the Ball family is doing, but at this point, two kids are dropouts and one, the only one who’s actually in the NBA, isn’t having the best rookie year.
But there is a bigger point, one that I think is interwoven into the fabric of blacks and conspicuous consumption and egregious spending: This feels over the top even for this family.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m very familiar with the celebrity-lease game that many professionals run to appear to be living well beyond their means, but something tells me that “big ballers” ain’t out here leasing.
I’m also a bit concerned that they are cashing out on their celebrity cachet. Dad LaVar Ball is arguably one dumbass comment away from his 15 minutes of fame being over, and word on the street is that Lithuania ain’t even that excited to have the services of the other Balls.
The Balls aren’t really balling like that, and I know that all of this can be pulled from them in a moment. Their shoes are a joke, and the funniest part is that they don’t get that their brand is a punchline.
I was initially supportive of an independent black man challenging sneaker giants like Nike and Adidas by recognizing the value-add that his sons bring. But it’s another thing to make your shoes so unaffordable that the regular consumer can’t afford them.
I don’t understand a business model that creates a price tag based on the owner deciding that the $495 price tag is because “I liked the way it sounds. You see, when you are your own owner, you can come up with any price you want.”
Just remember that NBA life expectancy is shorter than contestants’ time on Project Runway; one day you’re in, and the next you’re out.
Hell, at one point D’Angelo Russell was the talk of the town until a young, big name, with an even bigger dad, declared for the draft, and Russell was shipped to basketball obscurity à la the Brooklyn Nets, where he’s having a great year, but who’d know, considering that he plays for the Nets?
I hope that the Ball family and money continue to have a unique synergy, but if the senior-most Ball’s schtick becomes even more irritating, it won’t be hard to tune the Balls out; and if endorsement money stops coming and Lonzo’s game doesn’t continue to improve, the clan will go back to being the Chino Hills, Calif., family with nicer cars and the same loud-ass dad.
Read more at Yahoo! Sports.