SLAM- Big Baller Brand CEO LaVar Ball revealed on Tuesday the Junior Basketball Association, a league that will pay top high school prospects up to $10,000 per month and serve as an alternative to the current 8-month college pit stop for one-and-done hopefuls. BBB tells us that LaMelo Ball will be among the players participating in the new league.
LaVar has shared the following statement (below) with SLAM: "We have officially launched our own pro basketball league called the “Junior Basketball Association,” sponsored by Big Baller Brand. The JBA is the very first junior pro basketball league of its kind. The JBA will cater to the top ranked high school basketball prospects in America. All nationally ranked high school seniors, whose main goal are to reach the NBA, will be offered an opportunity to join the JBA, turning pro straight out of high school and bypassing the usual college pit stop. The participating players will be paid up to $10,000 per month, as they prepare to enter the NBA Draft the following year. The JBA league is for basketball players who intend to pursue the sport professionally. With the introduction of the JBA, allowing the NCAA to regulate and control the eligibility status of top basketball prospects will no longer be an issue. There is no need to partake in an institution that claims its purpose is not to help you prepare for your professional career. The recent statement from the President of the NCAA Mark Emmert when commenting on the recent withdrawal of LiAngelo Ball from UCLA sums it up: “Is this a part of someone being part of your university as a student-athlete or is it about using college athletics to prepare yourself to be a pro? If it’s the latter, you shouldn’t be there in the first place.” -Mark Emmert And we agree! For decades, the NCAA has run a business that has exploited thousands of teens, while college institutions, coaches, media conglomerates, and corporate sponsors have all profited from the model. The JBA is a long-awaited solution to this ongoing problem. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks. For updates visit jbaleague.com"
--------- Look, I don't think I am being overly skeptical in saying there's reason to doubt whether or not LaVar Ball - the purveyor of all things pompous - can independently run a professional basketball league that's capable of competing with the NCAA for talent. After all, the venture that's being used to fund said league is a sneaker company that took 6-8 months to fill $595 dollar orders with Payless-level shoes that may or may not have come in the style or size that you ordered. Credit to him for blabbering his way into successful side hustle, but let's just say that the Big Baller Brand business model has more of a "fool me once..." sort of feel. Admittedly, I love the sound of a true developmental league that prepares it's players for the future while reimbursing them for the god-given abilities they put on display in the reputable venues of major cities across the country. Unfortunately, it rings just a wee bit hollow when its Commissioner is the same loudmouth that took damn near an entire human pregnancy to slap together an aborted version of egregiously overpriced athletic footwear that would be lucky to survive a brisk jog around a windy block. In essence, if LaVar Ball's track record speaks then you'd have to be pretty fucking desperate to willingly board a money train with a greedy, untrustworthy conductor. That being said, it's nothing short of amazing that in trying to dismiss LaVar Ball as a worthy adversary the head of a multi-billion dollar operation basically wrote the mission statement for a league that could hypothetically (though hardly realistically) rival his own...
If nothing else, Mark Emmert disingenuous bullshit opened the door for an entrepreneur far more savvy than LaVar Ball to take advantage of what is the peak of hypocrisy. Now, if it were that easy then someone undoubtedly would have already thought of a way to compete with college basketball, so it's vintage LaVar Ball for him to think he's some sort of pioneer that's set to mastermind the most cutthroat of market in catering to kids who also pissed away their eligibility or engaged in international theft. Still, the idea itself is not nearly as dumb as the person trying to "speak it into existence", and the man who could theoretically lose the most from it voluntarily told you why.
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