LaVar Ball is gearing up to launch his own basketball league for nationally ranked high school players. The league will be for players who have graduated from high school and are not interested in going to college.
LaVar Ball said his Junior Basketball Association is fully funded by his Big Baller Brand and he plans to pay the lowest-ranked player a salary of $3,000 a month and the best player $10,000 a month. He’s currently looking for 80 players to place on 10 teams. The teams he said will play at NBA arenas in Los Angeles, Dallas, Brooklyn and Atlanta.
“Getting these players is going to be easy,” Ball told ESPN. “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.”
“Is this about someone being part of a university and playing basketball or any other sport with that school’s jersey on, representing that institution, or is it about preparing me for my career, my professional career as a ballplayer?” Emmert responded, just a few days after Ball’s son LiAngelo left UCLA to turn pro before even playing for the school. “If it’s the latter, you can do that inside a university and that might be a really good way to go. But if you don’t want to and you don’t think that it’s right for your family, then don’t come.”
“He was right,” Ball said. “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. So our guy isn’t going to go to Florida State for a year. He’s going to come to our league.”
Ball said that since Big Baller Brand is promoting the league, players will wear the company’s products, including BBB shoes and a BBB-branded uniform.
