Lonzo Ball surprised many by completely distancing himself from Big Baller Brand after Alan Foster, the co-founder of the company, allegedly stole $1.5 million from him.
Now, former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro shared his thoughts on what went wrong with Big Baller Brand. Vaccaro is perhaps best known for being the man who signed Michael Jordan to his first ever shoe deal. In addition, he also started the ABCD All America Camp, which featured stars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
Vaccaro spoke about Big Baller Brand and whether routes like this would be an option for a player of Zion Williamson’s caliber coming out of college.
The 79-year-old believes that Big Baller Brand was an excellent idea. However, it was run extremely poorly and did not mince words, according to Nick DePaula of ESPN:
While players have been intrigued by the concept of ‘Ownership vs Endorsement’ since Big Baller Brand launched, we won’t see Zion Williamson go the independent route.
A candid Sonny Vaccaro on the BBB premise: pic.twitter.com/UiChiCAIU5
— Nick DePaula (@NickDePaula) April 1, 2019
Although Big Baller Brand found some success for nearly two years, the absurdly high prices, failing grade from the Better Business Bureau, and horrible customer service are likely some of the factors in Vaccaro’s assessment.
If the Big Baller Brand had found some more competent people to manage the business side of it, there’s no telling where it could have gone. Sadly, according to Vaccaro, this never happened and now have to deal with Foster.
Ball has since sued Foster for over $2 million and it will be interesting to see where the 21-year-old ultimately signs with as he takes control of his career.