Lavar Ball is at it gain my people. I tell you, with Lava Ball you never know what to expect. That's probably his biggest gift and curse. At any rate, he has announced that he is founding the Junior Basketball Association. It is a professional basketball league that will offer high school players an alternative to playing in college and will pay them up to $10,000 per month. I'm interested in seeing more details in regard to the full layout of this league. The JBA league will launch in the summer of 2018 and will be sponsored by the Triple B brand. I'm also interested in seeing how the funding of this league will be sustained.
It has been stated that "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," Ball said in a statement to SLAM Magazine. "The participating players will be paid up to $10,000 per month, as they prepare to enter the NBA Draft the following year...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." The NCAA has long been involved in a debate about whether or not college athletes who make millions of dollars for their schools should be paid, it looks like Ball is reaffirming that they should. I wrote a post about my issues with High School Graduates being forced to spend a year in College or one year removed from High School earlier this year. I believe I'm on the same page with Lavar Ball but I'm not sure if this will be properly executed because it appears to be little rushed in my humble opinion.
LaVar is continuing to make business moves that present the basketball players as the owners of their brands and that allow for a change in the traditional basketball system. This is revolutionary but execution is key. Another challenge is Lavar having the ability to get support outside of the BBB. He has created distance with a lot influential individuals and institutions. Lavar recently removed his youngest son Melo from High School and created signature shoe for te 16-year-old. Now, I personally thought that was a bold and awesome move. This decisio to create the JBA could come off the heels of of his other son LiAngelo losing his ability to play college ball with UCLA because of the incident in China. Well, here we are again in the world of Lavar Ball.
Peace - Tony Hanes
Source: ESPN