LaMelo Ball became the first high school player to have his own signature shoe, the Melo Ball 1, and while that is a major accomplishment for the Ball family, the attention comes with additional headaches.
That headache is potential NCAA violations that could make LaMelo ineligible to play at UCLA in a couple of years. The NCAA does not allow their student athletes to profit off of their name or likeness, and a having your own signature shoe before college would appear to be an NCAA violation.
LaVar Ball responded to this prospect with these comments to UPROXX:
“Like I say, who cares?” Ball said in a phone interview with Uproxx on Thursday afternoon. “I’m not worried about them. The stuff that I do, I ain’t gotta ask permission from the NCAA about eligibility or nothing. I just go ahead and do it.”
However, LaVar Ball did acknowledge to ESPN that their may be consequences:
“I’ll suffer the consequences, whatever they may be,” Ball said. “It shouldn’t be nothing at all. The NCAA does not have anything on my brand or what I’m doing with my family. They have no effect on that.”
Currently, there is no rule in California High School sports that prevents LaMelo from having his own shoe, so LaVar may be trying to capitalize while Melo is still in high school and perhaps pull the shoe before he goes to UCLA.
No matter what happens when LaMelo finally gets to college, this is another smart business move by the Ball family. Flip the page to watch the hype video for LaMelo’s new shoe.